Post War Slumber Party
by Clarity Texas
Summary: Harry and Ginny end up together after their world has been torn apart in DH. They put their relationship back together with the castle. New chapter completing the story! Harry throws a surprise party that doesn't go as he planned. HP/G with some R/HG.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Author's Note**: I wrote this to pick up exactly where DH left off. I am planning on a seven chapter story. I think I will continue writing, just in a different time period of Harry and Ginny's lives. I dislike the idea of super long fics (like 57 chapters). Thank you for reading! Reviews make me smile.

**Post War Slumber Party**

Harry lumbered up the all too familiar steps to the Gryffindor tower. Hermione and Ron lagged slightly behind them. Hermione had been rummaging around in that extremely useful beaded handbag of hers.

The portrait of the Fat Lady stood before them, as if nothing had happened in the year that Harry had not attended Hogwarts. The Fat Lady gave a start and with beaming pride began to congratulate Harry loudly. Between her exclaiming, "From my own house!" and "I always knew he was special," the portrait hole swung open without a password and Hermione and Ron clambered into the Gryffindor common room behind Harry.

Harry looked from Ron and Hermione. They were caked in various substances: ash, blood, dirt, sweat. And yet, at the sight of his two best friends in the whole world, there was absolutely nothing in the world more beautiful to him than them now.

They climbed up the stairs to the boy's old dormitory. It was as if they had never left. With a swish of her wand, Hermione flung Harry and Ron's beds together. She then proceeded to peel off her shoes and socks before draping herself unceremoniously across the width of the two beds. Ron and Harry followed suit.

A tidal wave of relief swept over Harry's body. He was so grateful that his friends survived. Then suddenly, with a pang, the images of the people who died for him swept across his face.

Hermione was the first to speak, "I know we haven't slept properly for over two days…and I don't normally do this sort of thing…but considering the circumstances…"

Ron and Harry propped themselves up to stare at Hermione quizzically.

Hermione continued uncertainly, "I was thinking of casting a sleeping spell on us. Considering the events, I think it would really be proper. Loads of wizards have become dependent on them though. I once read that this one witch over did it and never woke up! And this one old wizard…"

"Just do it, Hermione. We're exhausted." Grumbled Ron.

And just like that, they fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.

Harry awoke the next morning when the sun shone on his face. He awoke alert. He was not used to waking with the sun, not after a year of skulking about in a magical tent.

Fumbling for his glasses, he noticed with mild amusement, that Ron had shifted in his sleep and was now completely curled up to Hermione. His right arm across her waist held her to his chest while his right leg was dangling over her legs. It was very comical, it looked like he was trying to ensure her captivity.

Not wanting to be bothered, Harry gathered his shower things and pulled the invisibility cloak over his head so he could bathe in peace. After all, he smelled like a barbeque pit.

Harry took his time in the bath. It had been ages since he had a real bath. At one point, he think he dozed off, for when he opened his eyes, Moaning Myrtle startled him.

Myrtle for once did not look gloomy or the least bit depressed. He hadn't seen her this happy since Hermione accidentally transformed herself into a cat with polyjuice potion.

"HARRY!" squealed Myrtle. Harry lunged for a towel, hastily covering himself and slipping into a robe. "Hey Myrtle. Long time no see." He said awkwardly.

"You saved my little friend, Malfoy! Last year he was so certain that he would be killed. Well not that would have been that terrible. But he may have not stuck around as a ghost."

Harry shook his head in disbelief. Myrtle would care about that. Not about the world ending, Hogwarts closing, or the castle walls falling down. "Um you're welcome then." He gathered his things and hurried back to the dormitory, not sure of how much time had passed.

Ron and Neville were the only ones in the dormitory. Ron had already showered, revealing some cuts on his face and hands that had been covered by the dirt before. Neville's ears looked like they had been cooked with a pound of bacon.

Both of their faces lit up when they saw Harry. Harry smiled back.

"Neville, you did wonderfully."

Neville's bacon colored ears would have turned red, for he shifted his weight uncomfortably and examined his dirty shoes.

"Thanks, Harry. But we all know the amazing sacrifice you made."

They stared at each other for a moment, until a low rumbling noise interrupted the moment. Ron, clutching his stomach, asked Neville if the great hall was still serving breakfast.

"Breakfast was over two hours ago and we've an hour to go before lunch."

"I'll fix this. Kreacher!"

With a loud crack, Kreacher appeared in the dormitory. He was beaming with pride of his master. He held his head high and looked happier than Harry had ever seen him. Before Kreacher could begin idolizing Harry, Harry spoke first. 

"Kreacher, I need to thank you. Thank you for leading the house elves against the death eaters. I am proud to have you as my elf. If you wouldn't mind, could you possibly get Ron and I some sandwiches? We haven't eaten since –"

But Harry was cut off by a mixture of sobs, bowing, and words like "best master in the world," or "Kreacher lives to serve master."

Before they could decipher what Kreacher had said, there were two more cracks. Kreacher had brought two full course meals on breakfast trays.

Later that day, Harry decided that it was probably time to emerge from his dormitory. He wanted to see Hagrid, to thank all the people that stood up to Lord Voldemort, even as he lay at his feet. Above all, he wanted to see Ginny.

As he emerged from the tower, he walked right into Ginny. Her eyes were still bloodshot with grief, but Harry found her absolutely beautiful.

They paused for a moment, staring at each other. For a moment, Harry wondered if she even still liked him . He had been completely absent from her life for almost a year. Did she still feel the same as she did on the morning of his seventeenth birthday? Before he could act on these thoughts, Ginny threw herself into his arms. Harry tensed automatically, fearing that she would start crying, but then relaxed as he inhaled her scent and placed his chin on top of her red hair.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you're alive."

A muffled, "Me too," came from Ginny, with her face buried in Harry's chest.

"Ginny?"

"Hmm?"

"I need to tell you something…" Harry began awkwardly. "Could we maybe walk somewhere?"

Ginny pulled away slightly to tip her face toward Harry's. "That may prove a little difficult. There are people everywhere, putting the castle back together."

The past few hours Harry had completely forgotten about the damage and state of disrepair Hogwarts was in. Between the horcruxes, Voldemort, his friends, and a complete state of exhaustion Harry thought it was understandable. He then glanced around the hall, portraits askew, ceilings and walls crumbling, suits of armor dismembered. He felt a pang of responsibility. He had made the only home he had ever known look like this.

"Right. Well I should probably help clean up, seeing how this happened on my account."

"Harry, it's not your fault. I knew you would blame yourself. I mean yes, it happened yesterday because of you, but it was going to happen eventually. You just gave everyone the courage to fight." She looked up at him with nothing but love filling her eyes.

Harry bent down slowly. His green eyes were locked onto her brown eyes. His lips brushed lightly against hers in a brief kiss. They were incredibly soft and Harry never wanted to spend another day apart from them. Apart from her. Before he could tell her this, Ginny returned his affections, a little more strong than he had expected. The kiss intensified. Ginny's hands found Harry's untidy hair. Harry wrapped his arms around her small waist, pulling her closer. A loud clang ruined the moment. Harry acted on impulse, whipping out his phoenix wand in a swift movement and stepped instinctively between Ginny and the noise. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Luna making a large suit of armor fly along the corridor with _wingardium leviosa._

"You're a bit jumpy, aren't you?" Ginny teased from behind him. "Not that I can really blame you, of course."

Harry turned to Ginny, a blush slowly claiming his ears. "Er right. Well I think I will help with the castle. Have you slept?"

"No, that's where I was going before…" she trailed off and stared at her shoes as her cheeks turned a rosy pink.

A smile spread across Harry's face. "I'll talk to you later then. Um, good night."

Ginny smiled in response then said, "Voldermort's dead." to the Fat Lady and clambered inside the portrait hole. "That's really the new password?" Harry asked incredulously. The Fat Lady grinned wildly in response. She raised a glass of wine and said, "To Harry!"

Harry set off to the great hall to find Professor McGonagall. He found her mending Syltherin's hour glass. With a wave of her want, thousands of emeralds lifted from the ground and went back to their place behind some repaired glass. She caught Harry observing her out of the corner of her eye. "There you are, Potter! I know you have done a lot, but you should really go into the hall and meet the families of the people who died fighting on our side. I know it would mean a lot to them."

Disappointment came over Harry. Of course he would be expected to do a thing like that. He couldn't just go about cleaning the castle like a normal person. He nodded his head and slowly made his way into the great hall, clearly dreading what he had to do. He decided to save the Weasley family for last. That would be the hardest.

He made his way up and down tables, shaking hands, receiving hugs and offering his thanks and condolences. He stopped abruptly when he recognized the Creevy family. Collin had snuck back against orders to fight, even though he was so small and young. He had the soul of a true Gryfindor. He told Collin's parents and brother his thoughts and then tried to tell them how sorry he was. He was interrupted by an embrace by the entire family.

Hours later, he had visited with all the families in the great hall. Some were grieving, some were celebrating. Some were caught up in a clear conflict to do both at the same time.

He looked around to spot the red haired clan, but to his disappointment, they were nowhere to be found. He made his way to the exit, to search for them in the room of requirement or the Gryffindor common room, but was distracted by a wizard wearing bright mismatched robes and holding Luna Lovegood's hand who almost knocked Harry over.

"Harry! Please forgive me! What I did was inexcusable! I was quite sure my own dear Luna would disown me but luckily she hasn't although it may have something to do with the narguls and –"

Harry cut him off and offered Mr. Lovegood his right hand. Mr. Lovegood's mouth fell open a little, then recovered from shock and shook Harry's hand firmly. "You're a great man, Harry Potter. " he said with his eyes filling with tears from behind his wire spectacles.

A streak of red hair blurred past behind Mr. Lovegood's shoulder. Harry excused himself, running after a Weasley into the courtyard to discover Ron chasing one lone spider out of the castle. Ron was shooting a mixture of swear words and hexes at the spider who was roughly the size of a beach ball.

He looked up when Harry shot it with a large stunning spell and the spider fell over on the ground. "Oi! I could've done that!"

"Sorry, just trying to help. _Reducio!_" The stunned beach ball spider shrank to the size of a grape. Ron stalked over to it and squished it under his shoe. "Thanks, Harry, but I really was getting to that."

Harry grinned and then asked, "Do you know where your family went?"

"Last I saw, they were in the common room. They're pretty exhausted you know? But I know they'll be going back to the burrow shortly after the service tomorrow. Did you hear about the service?"

"What service?"

"Right I guess you haven't run into Nearly Headless Nick. He's helping McGonagul organize it, seeing as she's a bit busy repairing the castle. Anyway, they are holding a memorial service tomorrow morning for those who…well you know." Ron looked off into the forbidden forest, clearly trying not to think of his fallen brother. He screwed his eyes up to a large cloud that had just covered the sun and said, "After the service, everyone is gonna go home. The train will arrive at noon tomorrow. We're to wear dress robes if we have them. Reckon Hermione packed us some?"

"It's very possible. There isn't much that she didn't pack!" grinned Harry.

Ron returned Harry's grin, pride radiating from his face. "She's one amazing woman, isn't she?"

"Who is?" Hermione had snuck up on them. Her hair was disheveled and she had owl droppings on her shoulders.

"You. What happened to you? You look –"

Harry coughed loudly, warning Ron not to continue. Ron luckily stopped his train of thought and began up again, "We were talking about how amazing you are….you know how you always think ahead and how you packed everything imaginable in that handbag of yours. Did you pack us dress robes?"

Hermione watched him with interest, waiting for him to shove his foot in his mouth. Harry could have imagined it, but he thought he saw the briefest flash of disappointment across her face. Maybe Hermione had been looking forward to a row. "No, I didn't pack dress robes. I didn't think we'd be going to the Yule ball or anything. Although I do have the clothes we wore to the wedding. That'll do I suppose. And I have been chasing owls back to the owlery all morning. THAT was has happened to me."

Ron swished his wand and the bird droppings flew off her clothes onto the ground beside the squished grape spider. Hermione smiled at him. Harry felt like he was intruding on another private moment, similar to what he witnessed in the room of requirement.

"Right well, I'll be in the common room I suppose…"murmured Harry. Although it was doubtful either of his friends had heard him. They seemed a little distracted snogging each other.

When he returned to the common room, it was not as quiet and serene as it had been previously. Cheers erupted as his presence was noticed. The commotion was equal to winning the dragon egg in the Triwizard Tournament, or catching the snitch after an important game. Harry did not feel like celebrating. He felt like smashing things, crying, or just going back to bed. He plastered on what he hoped was a convincing smile as he made his way through the cheering crowd to the red haired clan clustered around some comfortable chairs.

They all looked at him with smiles, but he could see the sadness in their eyes. Mrs. Weasley rose from her seat and folded Harry into a warm hug. "I am so proud of you! We all are." Mrs. Weasley said nothing about Harry's tears that now wetted her shoulder. She gently squeezed him and did not pull away until he did, regaining his composure.

"I'm sorry….I wish things ended up you know," Harry began awkwardly.

George clapped Harry on the back. "Personally I think ole Fred would have loved to go this way. Bit of an adventure, eh?" They stood huddled in their spot for several minutes, thinking about Fred. His love of mischief, adventure, and humor.

That evening, the entire castle had been put back together. It was really quite easy when you had loads of witches, wizards, and house elves all working together. That evening the house elves prepared a sumptuous feast for all who came. The headmaster's chair was once again, left vacant. The enchanted ceiling in the great hall did not reflect the weather this night. Instead, it looked like a pool of aqua water. Written across the water were the names of those who had sacrificed their lives. It was a somber and yet happy atmosphere.

The centaurs did not eat at the feast, but did stop by after the feast had ended to make sure they were not needed. Harry and Professor McGonagall spoke to Bane. They thanked them sincerely for their help. As the centaurs turned to leave, Bane bent down and took Harry's hand in his own. Harry shook it and before he knew it, they had left.

The common room had been cleared out of its normal furniture. Instead there was an odd assortment of beds to accommodate all of the extra people staying at Hogwarts. The Gryffindors were a little confused upon entering, because all of their dorm beds had vanished. Hermione was the only one not puzzled. "It's obvious that the castle wants us to have sort of a slumber party, isn't it? This may be the last time we see each other for a while."

And it was like an evening that Harry had never experienced. The tense atmosphere had lifted. They were all there together. They sat and laughed, played wizard's chess, drank butterbeer, and at the end of the evening, everyone was demanding to hear the adventure of Gringott's.

Harry, Ron, and Hermoine moved to the front of the room and stood on a coffee table to recount the tale. They took turns interrupting each other and adding details. Everyone was very entertained. They howled with laughter with Hermoine impersonating Bellatrix. They gasped when they heard how they almost were buried alive with fake treasure. Their faces brightening when they escaped on the old dragon. By the end of the story, Harry felt like he was much younger. It was as if he had never really left Hogwart's. It was almost as if he wasn't labeled "UNDESIRABLE NO. 1."

This story of course imprompted several other stories. Neville recounted his tale of killing the snake while others filled them in on all the trouble they had given the Carrows the past year.

Gradually, people fell asleep. Some in beds, some on the floor. The number of stories lessened until all you could hear was the fire. Harry lay very still, willing his body to fall asleep. Every time he tried to clear his mind, he would think of Fred, Tonks, or Lupin. Sometimes he would think of Hagrid's tears pelting him as he carried him to the castle.

He heard a muffled sob a few beds over. Curiously, he picked his head up and put his glasses back on. Ginny was laying curled up, twitching a little violently in her sleep. Harry empathized with her. He knew all too well what kind of nightmare she was having. Without really thinking on it, he slipped out of his own bed and crawled into Ginny's. It was a stupid thing to do really, with all of those people there. But he couldn't just leave her alone and miserable. He lay beside her and put one arm around her. He tenderly kissed the back of her shoulder. Ginny's face relaxed and her body moved closer to Harry's. Harry was overwhelmed with contentment. He placed his glasses beneath the pillow with his free arm and fell into a blissful sleep.

He woke up to an annoying prodding in his right ear. His eyelids opened to reveal an amused Ron. "Get back in your bed before my parents wake up! What are you stupid?" he whispered loudly.

Harry looked a bashful and took himself and his glasses to his own bed. He was disappointed that it wasn't warm like Ginny. He glanced out the window and saw that it was early dawn. "I owe you one, Ron." Harry whispered. "Nah, we've saved each other so many times, I can't keep track." Ron replied.

The next day passed quickly. They breakfasted, changed into dress robes, and returned to the great hall. Its ceiling showed a glorious sunny day with large clouds. The clouds seemed to sometimes turn into the face of a fallen hero. It was comforting, seeing them look down at their own memorial service.

The Minister of Magic, Kingsley, had returned with some medals. After awarding them to various wizards and witches, Harry was called forward. He was presented with the Order of the Merlin, First Class award. Harry felt unworthy of the award, but held his head high as the award was pinned onto his robes. As he looked to the ceiling, he saw his mother and father's faces for a brief moment. No one had to tell him this time, he knew his parents were proud.

McGonagul gave a lovely speech, followed by Kingsley. They retreated to their towers to change once again and to set off to the train. Packing this time leaving Hogwarts was painfully easy.

Harry was staring at the countryside whizzing along outside the window. Neville and Luna were talking quietly while Ron and Hermione were off patrolling the train for one last time. Ginny flung herself on the seat next to Harry, which startled him a bit, pulling him out of his daze. Ginny tilted her wand toward Neville and Luna and mumbled, _Muffliato _under her breath.

"So I had the strangest dream last night." She began.

Harry raised one eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

"I dreamed that you were dead. Really dead, not fake dead. And then you came back to life, um again. And then you held me in your arms and kissed my shoulder."

Ginny looked up at his face to see his response.

"You looked upset while you were sleeping last night, so um I climbed in your bed and held you. And I did kiss your shoulder. But Ron woke me up when it was early morning and I moved back to my bed. I am sorry if that was weird or whatever. Ginny, I want to know if…well if you want to go with me."

This last part did little to ease the apparent look of astonishment on her face. Her silence was making Harry increasingly uneasy. "If you don't want to, I get it. I left you for almost a year. But I really didn't want to hurt you, Ginny. I am really sorry. I just couldn't think of loosing you."

Ginny slowly closed her mouth and looked out the window pensively. "It was hard. But seeing you dead the other night once again confirmed…" she paused and flicked her eyes onto Harry's. "It confirmed that I still have deep feelings for you. And I can't explain the pain it caused in my heart when I thought you were dead."

"You know why I did that though, right?"

"Yes, I understand. Still was gut wrenching."

Ginny's hand found Harry's. Her fingers fit perfectly in between his. "So my answer….is yes. But you have to take me out. No more sneaking around or leaving to backpack across the country in a tent."

Harry grinned. "Sounds great."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**: All creative rights to the characters belong to their original creator(s) and are in no way connected with J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Books, Bloomsbury Publishing or Warner Bros. The author of the following FanFiction does not in any way profit from the story and it is written solely for entertainment purposes only. Rights to characters and their settings is neither claimed nor implied.

**Chapter 2**

**Party Like a Weasley**

_Ginny's hand found Harry's. Her fingers fit perfectly in between his. "So my answer….is yes. But you have to take me out. No more sneaking around or leaving to backpack across the country in a tent."_

_Harry grinned. "Sounds great."_

The train ride passed quickly. Before Harry knew it, they had arrived at King's Cross Station, a little too soon for Harry. He reluctantly took his arm off of Ginny's shoulders.

Ginny stood up to retrieve her trunk. Harry did not have any luggage to haul around. Remembering Ginny's annoyance with Dean with constantly helping Ginny through the portrait hole, Harry asked Ginny if he could carry her trunk for her. He knew that she was quite capable of doing anything she liked, but he felt like it was the right thing to do. Ginny cocked her head to a side and considered it for a moment. Harry thought she would say no, but Ginny let out a reluctant, "Well…all right."

Instead of a crowded platform of steam, luggage, and parents, they met quite a different sight when they stepped off the train. A deafening roar welcomed Harry as he stepped off the train. He had one hand on Ginny's trunk while the other hand was intertwined with Ginny's hand. He was temporarily blinded as cameras from every angle flashed.

Harry's eyes met Ginny's. He was unsure of how she would react to this sudden limelight. What if she hated being in the public eye and wanted nothing to do with him? What would he do then?

To his relief, a small smile curved her soft pink lips up. "You can't avoid it, I suppose. You are just as much their hero as you are mine."

A wild grin lit up Harry's expression. "Want to make front page with me?"

"I think we will no matter what at this point." She replied.

"May as well make it a good picture then." He dropped her trunk on the platform and pulled her into a kiss. He placed one hand under her chin, tilting her head up while the other arm snaked around her tiny waist. More camera flashes erupted.

Harry pulled away slowly, studying Ginny's face for a reaction. Ginny seemed to be studying his face as well.

"Want to get out of here now?"

Ginny simply nodded and walked off with Harry and her trunk in tow. She smirked as she saw a number of disappointed girls glare daggers at her. Their envy was palpable. Ginny looked up at Harry to see if he had noticed the large fan club of women. She was happy to see that he remained completely oblivious.

With a loud crack, Ginny and Harry apparated into the street in front of the burrow. Ginny and Harry sighed a collective sigh of relief at its familiar appearance.

They opened the kitchen door to find half of the family already home. Mrs. Weasley paused briefly to acknowledge their arrival.

She was in the process of putting her kitchen back together. On one half of the sink, dishes were being scrubbed viciously by a scrubber moving by itself. On the other half of the sink, a number misleading ordinary looking dish towels rinsed the soapy dishes, dried them, and placed them neatly in a cupboard that never seemed to get full. Harry smiled. He thought his Aunt Petunia may have actually been interested to see this spell.

Mrs. Weasley was directing her attention to charming some potatoes to peel themselves. In between spells, she did not hesitate to put her two new arrivals to work.

"Ginny, dear, I really need your help. We are expecting a large number of house guests. We are going to plan Fred's funeral tonight after dinner. I am sure the whole family will be here for the wake. You know how your father's side of the family gets at wakes. I need you to clean the bedrooms and change the sheets. I'll send Hermoine to help you as soon as she arrives back from Australia.

Harry, darling, if you wouldn't mind, could you help clear out the twin's….um George's room? We need to move those boxes into the attic. Hopefully Bill has managed to put the ghoul back in the attic by now."

Ginny rolled her eyes and grabbed her trunk from Harry's hand. She threw a, "See you!" over her shoulder at Harry as disappeared into her room.

Harry looked up at the large amount of stairs ahead of him and thought it would be easier to apparate to the top where the attic door was located. With a sudden pang of fondness and grief, he remembered the twins apparating every few feet within number 12 Grimmauld Place to everyone's annoyance. In memory of Fred, he pictured the top of the stairs, closed his eyes and felt his body being shifted through tubes. With a loud crack, he appeared at the top of the stairs.

Fleur gave a startled cry and dropped a cardboard box. Sneak o scopes with tiny feet spilled out from the box, scurrying along in every direction. "Sorry, Fleur. I didn't mean to scare you." Harry waved his wand and the sneak o scopes returned to the box with a squeal of protest.

"Ello 'Arry. You have done so well. I knew 'Ogwarts would be safe with you there. I do not understand why Fred and Jeorge 'ave all of these…contraptions!"

"Research I suppose." Harry replied.

Between Bill, Fleur, and Harry, the room was cleared out very quickly. They cleaned it and changed the bedding before moving down to Ron's room. They met up with Ginny, who was carrying around a large wicker basket with sheets precariously billowing in every direction. They moved around the house, using a variety of cleaning, dusting, and charming spells. Harry learned a lot from Fleur and Ginny. He thought cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place would be a lot easier now.

The last room was Ginny's room. Bill and Fluer left to help once again de-gnome the garden. Percy, George, and Charlie were already out in the garden tossing gnomes over the hedgerows. Ron had not turned up yet, they assumed he had escorted Hermione to Australia to see her parents.

Ginny's room was by far, the cleanest of the house. The walls were an airy light blue color. There was a long and narrow bed with a purple quilt. Next to a small wardrobe was a vanity table with an assortment of books piled on top. Animated posters of the Holyhead Harpies decorated her walls.

Harry made Ginny's bed while she put her clothes away. When Ginny opened her trunk, Harry paused with interest. _How in the world is she going to fit all of that stuff in that wardrobe? It's the size of a large cupboard._ Ginny opened the wardrobe to reveal the size of another small room. It had been charmed to the size of a walk in closet. Ginny grabbed an armful of clothes and climbed in the wardrobe, hanging up clothes and robes with her wand as she walked along. Her clothes were all organized by color. Gryffindor reds filled the front of the closet, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, purple , and black clothes. There were large sections of purple and green robes. Harry smiled and tucked the sheets under the mattress.

"You know I think all the work we did was quite pointless." Ginny called from her wardrobe. It sounded as if she was in a cave.

"Why's that? I thought your family is coming over?"

"Usually when they visit, all the kids get banished from their bedrooms. We will be expected to sleep on the floor while they steal our beds. And everyone will probably very drunk. Brace yourself for the worst."

Harry grinned in response. A large Weasley clan smushed in the kid's bedrooms all drunk was a funny picture. Harry wished he had experienced something remotely as exciting growing up. It sounded loads better than listening to his dumb Aunt Marge go on and on about her dogs and what was wrong with him.

Ginny emerged from her closet after moving her trunk to the back of the wardrobe by the black clothes. She wiped her hands on her robes and helped Harry place her pillows back on her bed.

"You're so kind to help with all of this." She thanked him with a peck on the cheek.

"I don't mind at all really," Harry said blushing a little, "not like your mother would take no for an answer, if I did not want to help anyway."

"Yes, she is a very bossy woman. That's where Percy get's it from, you know."

"Ginny, I was thinking for our first date…"

"All right, DINNER! COME BEFORE IT GETS COLD!"

Ginny clasped Harry's hand and lead him down the stairs. She of all people knew that there was never any time for the food to become cold at the burrow. "We'll continue that later," she said in response.

Gathered around the table was the entire family. Molly and Arthur sat at the head of the table. Bill and Fleur sat on Molly's immediate right. Charlie and Percy sat on her left. To the left of Arthur sat Fred, Andromeda, and Teddy. Harry grinned at his godson, who was preoccupied by banging a metal spoon on the table. His hair was a vivid blue today.

Andromeda smiled at Harry and introduced him. "Teddy dear, this is your Godfather, Harry. He'll be your babysitter for when Granny has to get out of the house, that is if it's still ok with you, Harry?"

Harry looked a little startled but then a little relieved. "So he won't be living with me then?"

"No, Tonks wanted him to live with me. She said if anything happened to me, she wanted you to take care of him. But hopefully that won't happen anytime soon." She beamed down at her godson, then picked him up carefully and placed him in Harry's arms.

Harry sat down by Ginny, who had sat on Arthur's right. He placed Teddy on his lap and began to hand him an assortment of silver ware to play with. Teddy seemed pleased with his new playmate.

The dinner Mrs. Weasley had prepared was similar to a Christmas feast. A roast lamb was the center piece of the meal. There were bowls of carrots, brussel sprouts, and potatoes. There was a walnut, honey, and stilton salad, and two puddings: an apple and plumb crumble with custard, and (Harry's favorite) treacle tart with clotted cream.

People talked about various things amongst stuffing their faces and passing dishes. Harry paused every few bites to help Teddy shovel food into his mouth or take away something from Teddy that was not supposed to go in his mouth. For his first go at feeding a little person, he thought it went all right. For as much food as Teddy got on himself, Harry got as much food in Teddy. Ginny looked over at Harry and laughed a beautiful laugh. The state of Harry's robes was comical. Harry just smiled down at his blue haired godson and then smiled back at Ginny. Mrs. Weasley observed from across the table with a look of approval on her face.

After dinner was cleared magically, they gathered in the parlor for tea and coffee. Bill, Fluer, and Charlie sat on one couch. Fred and Mr. Weasley sat on a worn loveseat. Andromeda sat on an arm chair, and Mrs. Weasley sat in the other armchair. Harry was sprawled out on the floor with Teddy, while Ginny sat on the floor with her back resting on her mother's chair.

Once everyone was settled down, Mr. Weasley cleared his throat. "I heard from Ron and Hermione, they are staying the night at her house. They moved them back to England successfully. Hermione said that her parents are a little angry but more importantly, they are safe. She and Ron will be arriving tomorrow morning."

Mrs. Weasley chimed in, "Right, so tomorrow morning family will start arriving. Aunt Muriel sent us an owl this afternoon, she will be the last to arrive but she will make it for lunch. So far I know we will have Uncle Gideon, Uncle Fabian, Uncle Billius, Mr. and Mrs. Delacour…"

"Mum, if you name the whole family we won't get any sleep," interrupted George.

"Fine, fine. I won't tell you which of your friends are coming then." Snapped Molly.

"Who?" cried George, Ginny, and Harry in unison.

" Lee Jordan, of course, Angelina Johnson, Oliver Wood, Neville Longbottom, the Lovegoods, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell. Oh and of course Hagrid."

Mrs. Weasley cleared her throat before continuing. "So the family will of course have the bedrooms. Youngsters will get the parlor. After lunch tomorrow, we will have the funeral service. After we bury him…" She broke off sobbing into a handkerchief that Ginny had produced for her with her wand. Ginny held her mother's hand while she cried.

Mr. Weasley took over somberly. "After all of that's done, we will have a good ole fashioned Irish wake. I know Fred would have really liked that."

The evening died down pretty quickly. Teddy fell asleep in Harry's arms, his head resting on his shoulder. His mouth was opened slightly, and a small string of drool rolled down his robes. _Not that it matters at this point really_, thought Harry. His robes looked positively dreadful.

The older adults tromped off to bed gradually. Andromeda took Teddy to Ron's room and conjured up a crib. The rest of the children, minus Bill and Fleur, slept in the parlor since the beds were already made for the guests. Harry actually preferred this. The last thing he wanted was to be alone with his thoughts. Harry guessed the others felt the same way, since they stayed up later than necessary, playing games of exploding snap. One by one, they dozed off. Some lying down, others sitting up with blankets sprawled across their laps.

Harry fell asleep on his back, while talking to Ginny about quidditch. Ginny had been lying on her stomach about a foot away from Harry. He was therefore very surprised to wake up in the middle of the night to see a sea of red hair spread out on his chest. Ginny had been the one to move this night. Harry wrapped his arms around her back and stroked her hair until he fell back asleep. A deep feeling of contentment washed over him.

The next morning passed very quickly. After a hurried breakfast, red headed relatives of all ages and sizes arrived non-stop. Harry had no idea where or how they would fit all of these people into the tiny burrow. Hermione and Ron arrived at the burrow around ten to help direct the chaos that had ensued. Every few steps Harry took, a different relative wanted to shake his hand or congratulate him. Harry felt a little uneasy with all of the attention. He was relieved when it was time to change into black robes and begin the procession down to Ottery St. Catchpole's Church.

The citizens of Ottery St. Catchpole looked out their windows curiously as a large congregation of mostly red heads made their way down to the church. They kept to themselves, as was the status quo with the citizens of Ottery St. Catchpole and the Weasley family.

The service was quite lovely. So many people had attended that the church ran out of seats. People stood in the back and on the sides of the pews. The same wizard who had conducted Bill and Fleur's wedding stood up and conducted the service. George had insisted on doing Fred's eulogy. It seemed appropriate. Who knew Fred better than his own twin?

George spoke of his brother's talent, ambition, humor, and wit. He spoke of his bravery and courage. When he concluded, there was not a dry eye in the entire church. Harry wrapped an arm around Ginny as they mourned Fred.

The dinner following Fred's funeral was anything but somber. They had set up a hundred red and gold tables in the orchard behind the burrow. Food, butterbeer, and fire whiskey were abundant. Toward the end of the meal, George set off a vast assortment of impressive fireworks that he and Fred had designed together. A large dragon swooped over the guests, causing shrieks and cheers, then flew up into the starry night sky.

As Ginny had predicted, most the guests did get pretty sloshed. Harry learned the reason why so many people had to spend the night at the burrow. If you tried to apparate while intoxicated, there was a good chance you would end up where you did not want to be, or end up somewhere with out the rest of your body.

Ron leaned into Harry to tell him a story about his Uncle Billius, "At my great grand father's funeral four years ago, Billius was pretty sloshed you know. He tried to apparate to the pub to get some more fire whiskey but ended up leaving his whole right arm behind! Imagine that, his wand was with it and everything! Course the dumb ole codger only apparated a couple of feet across the lawn he 'cuz couldn't concentrate. Had to go to St. Mungo's for a while."

Around one in the morning, some people decided to go to bed. The older family squeezed into the upstairs bedrooms. The parlor appeared to have turned into the entire Gryffindor house. Lee Jordan proposed a drinking game. "We'll all have a go and tell one story we remember about Fred! After each go, we all take a drink."

Ron decided to go first. "When I was a little boy, I accidentally broke Fred's toy broomstick. So he turned my teddy bear into a gigantic spider!"

Roars of laughter ensued and everyone took a gulp of their drinks.

Katie Bell spoke next, "One time after practice, Fred got yelled at by Filch for tracking mud into the castle. Fred was got so angry at Filch, he cast a spell on him that made him hop around like a rabbit for the rest of the day! Filch was too embarrassed to mention it to any professors of course. Stupid prat!"

The image of Filch hopping about the grounds of Hogwarts was enough to send the room into laughter again. He saw Hermione out of the corner of her eye put a silencing charm on the room so they would not disturb the rest of the house.

Angelina spoke up, "Fred asked me to the Yule ball by chunking a wad of paper at my head! And I'm not sure why I said yes, but I am glad I did." She tilted her glass up and drank.

Hermione told the story about Fred and George apparating about the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, right after they had passed their apparition test, driving everyone mad. Harry told the story of the Marauder's map. Neville told a story where Fred had hexed a bully for picking on him. Ginny told a humorous tale where Fred had tried to blame Ginny when he broke a lamp. He got caught in the lie because Ginny had gone with her father that day to the ministry. As punishment, Mrs. Weasley made him play tea party with Ginny. She dressed him up with a large color changing feather boa, a floppy garden hat, and her mother's apron. Charlie and Bill had called him Mrs. Weasley the rest of the week.

During all of the stories, Harry spotted George sneaking out the back door. He did not follow him, he felt that he probably wanted to be alone.

Considering the amount of stories of Fred's mischief and bravery, they were all terribly drunk within an hour. Eventually, the party died down, resulting in young witches and wizards sleeping everywhere. The parlor filled up quickly. Some people retreated into the living room to play strip exploding snaps and the remaining slept in the kitchen. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found spots under the kitchen table.

"I have to say, that was the most fun funeral I have ever been to." Said Harry.

Ron sighed, "Yeah, Fred wouldn't have had anything less."

Sleeping on a kitchen floor with his best friends and girl friend, Harry fell into one of the best sleeps of his life.

**Author's Note: **I really appreciated your reviews! Thank you for reading and commenting. I will probably continue the story. I have a lot adventures Harry and Ginny will experience together.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**Head Hurts, Where's the Next Funeral?**

_Considering the amount of stories of Fred's mischief and bravery, they were all terribly drunk within an hour. Eventually, the party died down, resulting in young witches and wizards sleeping everywhere. The parlor filled up quickly. Some people retreated into the living room to play strip exploding snaps and the remaining slept in the kitchen. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny found spots under the kitchen table. _

"_I have to say, that was the most fun funeral I have ever been to." Said Harry._

_Ron sighed, "Yeah, Fred wouldn't have had anything less." _

_Sleeping on a kitchen floor with his best friends and girl friend, Harry fell into one of the best sleeps of his life._

About four hours later, Harry heard some noises in his dream. He had been having a peaceful dream for once. He was soaring about a quidditch pitch on his firebolt, just feeling the wind in his hair. He started hearing noises on his broom. A loud cupboard banging open and cups clanging together. Harry looked around for the source of the noise but was quite confused as to where it came from. There was not anyone with him. Then he heard some loud giggling and an assortment of words slurred together. Harry jolted up awake, forgetting he had slept under a table, and smacked his forehead on the kitchen table. This sudden noise startled Ginny and Hermione, who also sat up all too quickly and banged their heads on the table. With annoyance, they all noticed Ron was still softly snoring away on the floor.

"What-was-that?" Lee Jordan slurred.

Harry crawled out from under the table and slowly stood up, stretching his legs and rubbing the enormous headache that he recently acquired.

"Whach ya under tha table fur?" Lee Jordan asked, with amazement written on his face.

"So I could get some sleep. Have you not been to bed yet?" Harry realized this was a stupid question after he asked it. Standing in the kitchen was Katie, Angelina, George, and Lee. They were all in various states of undress. Clearly the game of strip exploding snap had just now ended. They were all still smashed.

Ginny came out from the table next. "Gross, George! Where are your trousers?"

At the mention of the word, "trousers," Ron woke up with a start, smacking his head into the table with a loud thud. Harry heard something like, "Gnome cocked goblin face!" and a reproach from Hermione as she told him not to swear.

"Oi! How many of 'ou all are down there? Itssss 'ike Dad's ole muggle car tha' got taken down by the wompin' 'illow tree. People just keep comin out and out and out and out!" George bent his head down to check, which was probably a bad idea, considering Ron's mood. George stuck his face down right next to Ron's. Ron glared at him and smacked him right in the face.

"Eh! You lil git! I'll teach you!"

And with that there was a scuffle in the kitchen at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Harry exchanged glances with Ginny. Apparently she was very used to this sort of thing. She ignored the ruckus and began making some toast and filling up those cups that had woken Harry with coffee.

Hermione climbed out from under the table, "Oh my, where did everyone's robes go? Oh RON, STOP IT!"

At this precise moment, Arthur Weasley came strolling into the kitchen. As he looked around the kitchen, he saw George trapping Ron in a headlock. Ron was fully clothed but George had on a pair of trunks and one black sock. Katie had on a large white dress shirt with no trousers. Angelina, looking the most clothed of the four, had on a pair of pajama bottoms and a white tank top. Lee Jordan stood slumped against the wall with a bottle of fire whiskey in his right hand in nothing but his drawers.

Misunderstanding the brawl before his eyes, Arthur said, "All right George! Leave Ron alone, he can keep his clothes on if he wants to. Thank you, Ginny, dear. You're so good to make me coffee."

George looked up. "I wasn't tryin' to undress 'im!" he yelled indignantly.

"You lot better get up and dressed. Tonks and Lupin's funeral is today you know. George put on some trousers before your mum comes down stairs. Lee, hand me that fire whiskey, eat some breakfast and sober up."

Katie looked slightly embarrassed and shooed the rest out of the kitchen to get dressed.

Harry and Ron went out into the backyard to start cleaning up the orchard while they waited on the bathroom. The red and yellow tables had since vanished, but there were bottles of butterbeer and firework wrappings decorating the ground in an ugly fashion. After saying things like: _Accio trash, accio butterbeer, accio paper, accio bottle_ for half an hour, they had acquired a large pile of debris. They set fire to the trash pile and returned inside.

The kitchen was almost as crowded as platform 9 and three quarters on the first of September. Guests of a Weasley and non-Weasley variety were eating pieces of toast and taking turns going home via the floo network or apparating in the garden.

Ron grinned. "I haven't had to-go toast in years!"

Harry looked puzzled. It looked like ordinary toast to him. "What's so special about toast?"

"It's not any toast! It's like eating eggs, sausage, hash browns, and toast all at once. Wonder if mum could teach Hermione?"

"Why don't you just learn yourself?"

Ron looked a little embarrassed. "That's beside the point!" Trying to avoid furthering the conversation, Ron shuffled through a mass of people and returned with two pieces of toast. He shoveled one in his mouth and gave the other to Harry. "Don't tell Hermione I said that?" Harry chuckled in between delicious bites of to-go toast and nodded his head in agreement. Nothing good would come from Hermione knowing anyway.

After Harry returned from the restroom, the house was eerily quiet. He walked into the kitchen, nervous that the house had forgotten him and left already. Mrs. Weasley greeted him with an arm full of clothes. "Harry hurry and put your dress robes on. I washed them for you. We will be leaving within the next few minutes. GINNY! COME DOWN STAIRS ALREADY!"

Harry changed hurriedly and almost knocked Ginny over coming out of the restroom. Ginny was wearing a different set of black dress robes than she had the previous day. Not that Harry could point out the exact difference, but it seemed to have black lace around her tiny waist. She had pinned half of her red hair back, exposing her long eye lashes. "You look breath taking, Ginny." Ginny beamed up at him. "That's very sweet, Harry, but if we don't leave at this second, mum will have kittens."

They arrived at Andromeda's house a moment later. Witches and wizards were gathering in the living room, starting to take their seats. Harry's ears pricked when he heard his godson crying from the other room. He instantly went into the study and scooped up Teddy from his crib. Teddy's hair was a sunken brown color today. It instantly reminded him of his mother when she was heartbroken. Ginny raised her eyebrows at Harry when she saw him bring Teddy into the living room but said nothing. Harry whispered, "I never got to see my parents' funeral. I'll be damned if Teddy doesn't get to either. I know he probably won't remember it but they would want him to be here." Ginny discretely wiped away a tear that had escaped from the corner of her eye. She absentmindedly stroked Teddy's hair while the service began.

The same wizard that did Fred's funeral once again spoke of the lives of Nymphadora Tonks and Remus Lupin. Arthur Weasley rose from his seat to deliver the eulogy. He was able to maintain his composure, but Harry was not. There were too many similarities between him and Teddy. And not in a good way. Ginny put her arm around Harry's shoulders and pressed her forehead against his neck. It was the most comfort she could offer with a baby in between them.

After the service, Harry walked over to Andromeda with Teddy. She was sobbing into a handkerchief in the arms of Mrs. Weasley. "Mrs. Tonks? I was wondering if you may like for Ginny and I to stay here for the night. We can look after Teddy, I know you have had a terrible day." Andromeda pulled herself off of Molly's wet robes. "Thank you, Harry. You are so kind."

Before another crowd of admirers could descend on Harry, he made his way over to Ginny. "Did Mrs. Tonks say yes?" Harry nodded in answer. "Do you think we could take Teddy on a walk? I need to get out of here before everyone starts congratulating me. Today should be about the Lupins, not me." Ginny smirked and grabbed his arm, steering him clear of his fan club. She tucked Teddy into a pram and placed a hat on top of his small head.

"Does he need a hat? It's not winter."

"Babies can't keep warm the way we can. Their body heat escapes through their heads. Well ours does too but we have more hair than he does. Although I bet Teddy has more hair than anyone his age!"

"Thanks for doing this, Ginny." He pushed the pram along the road to the muggle park. Ginny looped her arm through his. It felt odd to be taking a baby to the park with Ginny, but at the same time it felt natural. It was hard to believe a week ago he was riding dragons and hunting horcruxes. He looked down at his new companions and smiled. Yes, he much rather be doing this.

He turned left and shifted the pram onto the sidewalk. There was a set of swings and benches. It was a tiny park, but the lot of ancient looking trees provided privacy and shade.

"Want to sit down for a bit?" Instead of gesturing to the benches, she pointed to a clearing in the middle of a ring of old weeping willow trees. "Sure." They left the pram at the sidewalk and took Teddy to the center. Ginny spread out a blue blanket with tiny snitches moving across it. Harry set down Teddy on his stomach. Teddy squealed with excitement and followed the snitches' movements with interest. His chubby little hands tried to catch them. "Looks like we've got another seeker on our hands," giggled Ginny. Harry felt his chest swell with pride. They sat for a few moments, taking in their forest like surroundings or laughing at something Teddy did. Harry was the first to break into conversation.

"So I was thinking…I doubt I can go anywhere for a while. I mean without it being on the front page of _The Daily Prophet_. And I know this is sudden…" Harry paused to gage Ginny's reaction. So far she looked thoroughly confused. "Right, well, would you like to go on a holiday with me? I was thinking just a three day trip. I know we have stuff we have to do, but the world could make do without us for three days."

Ginny stared at him for a moment. "Yeah! That would be brilliant. I haven't gone on a holiday in six years. Even then we were in Egypt which was all right but I had to share a room with Ron, George, and Fred. That was horrid. Where are we going?"

"Haven't exactly figured it out yet. How about…Ireland?"

Ginny grinned. "Yeah all right. The Holyhead Harpies are actually in Ireland because they have a scrimmage with Ireland."

Harry smirked. "Maybe we could sneak in. Use the invisibility cloak or something."

A wild look of excitement lit up Ginny's face. It was as if Christmas morning had occurred in a muggle playground in early summer. Ginny tackled Harry on the ground hugging him and planting kisses all over his face. She kissed his forehead, nose, cheeks, and lips about a dozen times before Harry managed to kiss her. The kissed passionately until Teddy made a soft cooing noise.

"Perhaps we shouldn't be snogging in front of a baby…" Ginny said as she rolled off of Harry.

"Do you think we should get back now?" Ginny nodded and picked up Teddy. Harry grabbed his blanket and helped Ginny tuck Teddy into the pram.

"So where is the game?"

"It's outside of Dublin in Saint Anne. Is it sad I answered so quickly?"

"A bit."

Ginny blushed and lightly shoved Harry's arm. "Dublin it is then. Can you leave tomorrow?"

"I think I should tell mum first, but she should be ok with it. Besides, I think she likes you more than she likes me!"

"Don't know about that. She called Bellatrix Lestrange a bitch and then killed her for you."

Ginny paused briefly, then resumed stride with Harry. "You know I never really thought of it like that. All my boyfriend did was kill Voldemort for the world."

"Yeah well. That and take you to Ireland. Yeah your mum's got me beat there."

The pair of them returned to a quiet house. Ginny checked on Mrs. Tonks before coming into the kitchen with Harry. "She's still upset. I think we should try to get her to eat something."

"I was nosey and rummaged around for food already," Harry admitted guiltily, a blush creeping to his ears. "I can make spaghetti easily enough."

"Right, you do that while I feed Teddy." Ginny warmed up a bottle from the refrigerator. She balanced Teddy on one hip as she made her way into the living room and sat in the rocking chair to feed him.

The sight of Ginny doing this warmed his heart. _If I can be so lucky to get her as a wife…_his thoughts were interrupted because the water began to boil.

After Teddy was fed and changed, Harry took a tray of dinner to Mrs. Tonks. She was curled up in a ball on her bed with the curtains drawn. "Mrs. Tonks? I made a bit of dinner for you." He placed the plate next to her bedside table as she stirred and sat up. Her eyes were swollen and bloodshot. Her posture was that of a defeated person. She plastered a fake smile on her face and began to pick at her food. "How is Teddy?" she inquired.

"He is currently listening to Ginny sing to him. He's already eaten so we are trying to get him to sleep."

"Goodness, it's that late already." She mumbled to herself. "Where did you disappear to after…the service?"

"We took Teddy to the little park in the pram. Sorry, we should have asked first." Harry said suddenly feeling stupid.

"Oh no, I knew he was safe with you. Thank you, Harry."

"No problem. Ginny and I won't trespass on your hospitality for long, we were planning on leaving tomorrow morning, if that's all right. Of course if you need help with Teddy, we'll stay longer."

"Oh no, don't worry about that. You are always welcome here, Harry, but I can take care of Teddy easily enough. He is the strength I need to keep going. I'm sure you of all people understand that."

An image of Ginny grinning at him earlier this afternoon flashed in front of his face. Harry's eyes met hers. "I really do."

Harry and Ginny slept on the floor next to Teddy's crib. Harry kissed the back of Ginny's shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her waist, folding his body to hers. _I could really get used to this_, he thought as he drifted off to sleep listening to Ginny's even breaths.

**Author's Note**: Thank you for your reviews, they keep me writing. I have decided to cap this fic off at seven chapters so it remains light and enjoyable. I don't want it to turn into a 54 chapter saga. Stay tuned and thank you for reading.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**What is SHE doing in Ireland?**

_Harry and Ginny slept on the floor next to Teddy's crib. Harry kissed the back of Ginny's shoulder as he wrapped an arm around her waist, folding his body to hers. I could really get used to this, he thought as he drifted off to sleep listening to Ginny's even breaths. _

Around three o'clock, Teddy began to wail loudly. Harry fumbled around for his glasses. Ginny started to get up too but Harry stopped her, "It's ok, I got it," he mumbled. Ginny instantly plopped back onto the ground. Harry picked up Teddy, immediately smelling what had woken up his little godson. He carried him over to the changing table and began to change his diaper (Ginny had taught him the previous day). Teddy began to cry even louder as Harry took off the soiled diaper. "Why are you still crying? I'm the one changing you, if anyone should be crying it's me." Harry managed to get a fresh one on Teddy with minimal delay. He brought him to the kitchen and shot sparks out his wand to entertain him while he warmed up his bottle.

After Teddy was full, Harry tucked him back into his crib. He realized that he had not made arrangements to go to Ireland. Not wanting to wake his girlfriend and godson, he went out into the cool night air to call Kreacher. It was a dark and moonless night. Harry tensed and scanned the vacant street for any signs of danger. It was completely silent. _Ok, calm down. Last time you were here you were being chased by Voldemort and your wand decided to shoot flames at him. That's probably why you're being a bit mental._ Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Kreacher!" With a loud crack, Kreacher appeared on the lawn. He greeted Harry with a smile and a bow. "Have you decided to come back home, master?"

"Not yet, but I will soon. I was wondering if you could run an errand for me. Do you know about any hotels in Dublin? I want to take Ginny there for three days. Somewhere nice?"

"Yes, Master Harry. Mistress liked visiting Dublin on holiday and I always reserved her rooms. The hotel was called the Red Cow Moran Hotel. How many rooms shall I reserve?"

"Umm, I guess one." Harry said uncertainly. "Could you pack trunks for us too? Just three days of robes and muggle clothes. And my invisibility cloak."

"Yes master. I shall see you in three days time." Kreacher grinned and bowed three more times before he disappeared into thin air.

Harry thought the hotel had an odd name, but so did most of the wizarding establishments that he had come across. He turned and silently padded barefoot back to Teddy's room. He lay down as quietly as he could, but Ginny woke up anyway. She cuddled into his warmth and a sigh of contentment escaped her slightly parted lips.

Harry awoke to a howl of pain. Jolting awake and fearing for the worst, he looked wildly around the room to see nothing but blurry objects. He searched blindly for his glasses and managed to place them on his nose. He breathed a sigh of relief to see both Ginny and Teddy still alive and well. Then he started to laugh. Curled up on the floor, next to a large trunk, clutching her foot was Ginny. "It's not funny! I stubbed my toe on my bloody trunk! I don't even know how it got here!"

Harry bit his lip to stop laughing. "I'm sorry, Ginny," Harry had to bite his lip harder as another chuckle broke free. "I asked Kreacher to pack our things last night when I took care of Teddy. We can leave whenever you want now."

Ginny scowled at Harry, then at her large trunk. Still clutching her foot she asked, "Why's there only one trunk?"

"I suspect mine is either in a rubbish bin or still at the Dursley's. I just carried around a sack last year. And even that was in Hermione's handbag most of the time."

Ginny's eyes widened a bit. Curiosity got the better of her as she opened up the offending trunk. "Your sack is in here. And some robes and muggle clothes. Oh and the hotel address. The Red Cow? What kind of place are you taking me?"

Harry blushed. "Well don't all wizard hotels have strange names?"

"I suppose. Usually they are wittier than that. Cows usually don't have much to do with magic."

"Kreacher said the Blacks used to use this hotel on holidays, so at least there's that." Harry said in a slightly defensive manner.

Ginny shrugged. "If it's better than the Leaky Cauldron, then that will be nice. I'm going to change and call my mum in the floo. I should have owled her last night."

Harry checked on Teddy and Andromeda. She seemed to have a renewed spirit since Harry talked to her last night. She thanked him once again and after Harry changed, they were off. Harry held the trunk with his right hand and clasped Ginny's hand in his left.

They arrived in a spacious hotel lobby. The floor was white marble with a grand staircase descending from the middle of the ceiling. The staircase had a red carpet runway cascading down. The room was a large, white, oval. Sunlight streamed in through large concave windows.

"Want to stay here?" Harry teasingly asked Ginny, who was clearly still absorbing her surroundings. "Is it better than the Leaky Cauldron?"

Ginny blushed a little and retorted, "Oh, come off it."

Harry approached the lobby counter and was greeted immediately. A young wizard with curly brown hair almost dropped his wand in shock. "Oh! Mr. Potter! Welcome to the Red Cow, sir. We have your room ready, let me get your key." He turned to get a key from the wall behind him, his hands trembling in excitement. Harry shifted his weight from foot to foot uncomfortably. He hoped he wouldn't make Ireland news too.

The wizard mumbled a spell and taped a plain looking old gold key with the tip of his wand. The key changed shape into a large, ornate, antique key. "Here you are, sir. Room 207. May I assist you with your trunk?"

"No, thank you though."

"Very good, sir. Please let us know if you need anything."

Harry could not get out of there soon enough. Ginny was giggling after him. "Mr. Potter, sir, can I have your autograph?" she teased lightly.

Harry cast an irritated glance at his mocking girlfriend, but smiled against his will when he saw her beautiful eyes alive with humor.

The room was a long rectangle, which was confusing, considering the lobby was an oval. The floor was a dark wood, covered with two large oriental rugs. There was one large bed, with an assortment of pillows, all in a deep Gryffindor red to match the quilt. Two mossy green arm chairs sat on the opposite wall from the bathroom. A small tea table sat in between the chairs. The walls were a light butterscotch color, decorated by a few moving portraits. One portrait was a flower opening it's petals to absorb the morning sun. Another portrait was of a young milk maid, milking a cow with a red collar. The milk maid looked up from her work and said in a dreamy voice, "Welcome to the Red Cow. We hope you enjoy your stay. If you need any assistance, I will tell the lobby attendant. Thank you for visiting, Miss Weasley and Mr. Potter." With that, she turned back to her cow and became still.

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "Well this is lovely."

Harry's eyes were drawn immediately to the one very large bed occupying the majority of the west wall. "Ginny, do you want to switch rooms?" Ginny's head snapped up from her trunk. She looked around the room quickly. "Why, what's wrong with it?"

Harry's ears turned dark pink and dropped his eyes to trainers. "There's only the one bed. I didn't want you to be uncomfortable or think I was trying to….you know." As he finished his last sentence, his ears turned to a bright red.

Ginny smiled. "In case you haven't noticed, we've been having slumber parties almost every night. And I never felt uncomfortable. I don't know if I could feel uncomfortable with you, Harry. If you were the sort of bloke who was after that sort of thing, you could've had a dozen girls the moment we stepped off the train. I mean you ARE Harry Potter for Merlin's sake."

Harry blush crept across his cheeks. Ginny noticed and giggled, "If you don't quit blushing, I'm going to snog you senseless!" "Maybe I'll blush more often then," he retorted, pulling her hips toward his own.

Harry was so elated to know that Ginny knew him so well. He didn't have to explain himself to her. He didn't have to pretend to be cool or important. She knew that he hated the fame that followed him. She knew he who he was.

Harry cupped her face with his right hand. Ginny closed her eyes and leaned into his palm. "You are so amazing," he wondered aloud. Ginny smiled sweetly in return. Harry moved his hand to underneath her chin, tilting her head up to meet his lips. Harry felt the same way he did on his seventeenth birthday. He felt elated, like there was something real to live for.

He pulled away, not because he wanted to stop kissing her, but because he wanted to stare at her. He wanted to memorize every inch of her lovely face. When Harry told her this, it was Ginny's turn to turn red.

Ginny sank onto the bed, tucking her small feet beneath her. "You know I've been thinking, I really don't know much at all about what happened to you this past year." Harry joined her on the bed, taking his shoes off with his feet. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Since we don't have a pensieve, I could try to teach you legilimency. But I was really terrible at that. I never really learned to guard my thoughts like Professor Snape could."

Ginny replied, "Well that still leaves us one other option."

Harry looked puzzled. "What's that?"

"We could tell each other. You know by talking."

Harry smiled. "Oh, I suppose I forgot about that. You can go first."

Ginny gathered her thoughts for a moment and began with the day of Harry's last birthday. She told him about her panic at the wedding, not for her own safety, but for his. She told him about the questioning, returning to a dark and dangerous Hogwarts, about quidditch. She told him how the Gryffindor tower became more and more quiet. Pride swelled in Harry's chest when she told him about Dumbledore's Army. He was so honored to have a girl friend that broke all the rules to teach others how to defend themselves. She told him about going into hiding and lastly, about the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry noticed she left out the part where Fred died, but he didn't press it. It wasn't something Harry wanted to talk about either.

Ginny placed her head in Harry's lap and looked into his green eyes. "All right, your turn."

Harry began when he left the Dursley's and didn't stop talking until he told her the story of him slipping into her bed to comfort her after the Battle of Hogwarts.

Harry's stomach had perfect timing because it chose this moment to emit a loud and angry sounding grumble. Harry glared at his stomach while Ginny laughed. He grabbed her hand and pulled her from the bed. "Fancy dinner now? There's a restaurant in the hotel basement." Ginny tried to stop her giggles, but nodded her head instead.

An hour and a half they walked back up the stairs full from dinner into the white and round hotel lobby. Tiny tea light candles floated in the air, giving the impression of stars. As they ascended the stairs, Harry caught sight of a little woman that looked hauntingly familiar.

"Ginny! Is that…Umbridge?"

A short and broad witch with curly brown hair tucked under an ugly hat disappeared into a room three doors down from their room.

**Author's Note:** Next chapter we find what Umbridge is up to in Ireland. As always, I love to hear your thoughts. I really appreciate it when yall take the time to read my stories.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**An Evening Under the Invisibility Cloak**

_After an hour and a half, they walked back up the stairs full from dinner into the white and round hotel lobby. Tiny tea light candles floated in the air, giving the impression of stars. As they ascended the stairs, Harry caught sight of a little woman that looked hauntingly familiar._

"_Ginny! Is that…Umbridge?"_

_A short and broad witch with curly brown hair tucked under an ugly hat disappeared into a room three doors down from their room._

Harry whipped his head around to see if Ginny had seen the same scene he had. For a fleeting moment, he was afraid she would take on a Hermione-like persona and tell Harry to let everything go. With a sigh of relief, he saw an expression of shock pass over her pale face. At the same moment, Harry realized how very close they were to being discovered. He tugged Ginny into the hotel room and cast the _Muffliato_ charm on the door.

Ginny expelled a large breath. "Oh no oh no oh no."

Harry paced the room nervously as he tried to decide the correct course of action. He drew his wand and produced two patronuses. The pair of stags took up the entire room. He addressed each one separately and each went in a different direction. "One is going to Minister Kingsley, and the other is going to Hermione. I figure Ron's probably with her any road."

Ginny looked somewhat more composed. Harry continued. "Right, so the way I see it, she could be here for one of two reasons. Either she is running away from the ministry so she doesn't get arrested with the other death eaters, or she is tracking me down…to finish the job."

Ginny drew herself up a little taller. She tossed her red mane behind her shoulder. "She could be after both of us you know. I know she hated you almost as much as she hated Peeves, but I wasn't on her good side either. I tortured her precious Inquisitorial Squad mercilessly while you and Hermione lured her into the forest and fed her to the centaurs. And after the term ended…we sort of took to pranking Umbridge." She admitted the last part a little hesitantly, suddenly studying the portrait of the flower, avoiding Harry's eyes.

Harry immediately feared the worst. "What did you do?" He could picture Umbridge with a black eye from a punching telescope or growing a magical mustache on her toad like face.

"It was quite brilliant really. We looked up her birthday on Dad's work calendar. On her birthday, we went to the Ministry of Magic and delivered a self-propelling custard pie. Of course she was too greedy to turn that down. We also left a tin of ton-tongue toffees and a little box of canary creams. My only regret was we never got to see her eat them. I know she had to have had some of those though, because dad said a few days after she put that magical eye on her door. Rumors all over the ministry were that she had fallen off her nut."

Harry stared with his mouth slightly agape until a response patronus burst in the room through a wall. A small otter began to speak with Hermione's bossiest tone of voice, "Harry, do be careful! You don't know how many other death eaters are with her. Please stay in your room and do not provoke her! Ron and I will be there in the morning."

Harry snorted. "Like I would stay in my room all night and wait for them to come get me."

"She may have a point you know. I don't want to stay here all night either, but she may have more than one death eater with her."

Harry rummaged around in Ginny's trunk for his invisibility cloak. As he pulled it out, another patronus burst into the room. This time, a silvery lynx stood in the center of the room. Kingsley Shacklebolt's voice spoke, "Well done, Harry. I have notified the remaining loyal aurors. We will send Gawain Robards and Savage first thing in the morning."

Harry threw his cloak at the patronus in frustration. "Why does the government simply shut down at night? That's brilliant, probably how Voldemort rose to power in the first place. He simply waited for everyone to go to bed."

Ginny nodded in agreement. "I imagine Kingsley's got a lot on his plate figuring out who he can trust and who he can't. You would make a better auror though, Harry."

"Yeah, probably because I can stay up past nine o'clock."

Ginny walked over to Harry's crumpled cloak on the floor. "Well are you coming to stalk death eaters or am I going to be the only auror tonight?"

Harry grinned at her cheek and stepped under the cloak.

Being under the indivisibility cloak with Ginny was an unusual experience for Harry. Sure he had shared the cloak with Ron and Hermione loads of times, but they were just friends. He became acutely aware of his elbow bumping her side, of his jeans rubbing against her jeans, and of the intoxicating scent of her hair. All and all it was very hard to concentrate.

They made it to three doors down and traveled one over, just in case someone came out and stepped on them. As they settled themselves on the plush red carpet, Harry whispered, "Remember that time you dung bombed the headquarters' kitchen door to see if there was an imperturbable charm on it?"

Ginny grinned at the memory. "Yeah and mum got mad at me so I blamed Crookshanks. I think dung bombs would be a bit out of place here." She began to rummage in her pockets for something to toss at the door. The sudden movement accosted Harry's senses once again. Harry closed his eyes to focus once again.

She pulled out a knut and flung it lightly at the door. The knut made contact with the wood and rebounded onto the plush carpet, silencing the coin.

"Now would be a great time for some extendable ears. Doubt Kreacher packed any though."

Harry felt frustrated at this giant hole in the plan. "I guess the best we can do is just to track her movements until the aurors get here tomorrow." He pointed his wand at the door and placed an imperturbable charm on the door. He smiled at the irony. "At least she can't hear us now."

They chatted for a couple of hours. Harry told Ginny he wanted to finish cleaning 12 Grimmauld Place. He was thinking about making some adjustments, like silencing Mrs. Black's portrait and painting some of the walls. Ginny's face lit up. "Can I help? I hate that blinkered woman. How are you going to get it down though? Sirius couldn't even do it."

Harry smiled his lopsided grin. "I've thought of that. You know how elf magic is different than our magic?" Ginny nodded. "Well since Kreacher is on our side now, I was thinking of giving the portrait to Kreacher. He could keep it in his room if he wants. I bet he could get it down, no problem."

Ginny smiled. "Yeah, he'd probably love that."

As they began to get drowsy, they started taking shifts sleeping on the other's shoulder. As Ginny slept the first shift, Harry stared at her. _Last year would have been a lot better if we could've taken shifts like this. I wouldn't have minded looking out for Voldemort like this at all_.

The night was disappointingly uneventful. The most exciting thing that happened was Ginny sneezing while Harry was asleep. He woke up with a start and raised his wand to find an amused girlfriend laughing at him.

Morning came. They could tell by the amount of wizards and witches moving about the corridors. Still, the suspected door remained closed. Ginny turned to Harry. "Do you suppose we should go back to our room? The aurors should be here shortly." Harry nodded reluctantly and stretched his legs as they stood up.

"Sorry, Ginny. This was a rotten start to a holiday." Ginny smirked. "Yes, well I suspect our timing wasn't that great."

Harry placed the key in their hotel door and held it open for Ginny. They had no sooner tossed the cloak on the large bed when there was a knock on the door. Harry took out his wand and threw open the door in one swift movement. Hermione flung herself in Harry's arms. "Harry! Thank goodness you're all right!" Ron stood awkwardly in the corridor behind Hermione. "Hey Harry. Hey Ginny."

Hermione crossed the threshold and embraced Ginny next. "We saw Savage and Robards in the lobby. They told us to stay with you and protect you. Although I don't quite see the point in that. Not like you would listen to us anyway. You're probably going to burst in her room anyway. And by the looks of the bed, I bet you made poor Ginny stay up all night with you watching her room."

Harry's mouth gaped with Hermione's frankness.

Ron was the first to recover. "She finally understands us! All it took was six years in Hogwarts and one year running amuck all across the country in a bloody tent!"

Hermione flashed a brilliant smile. "All right then. How are we going to do this?"

_Author's Note: Next chapter the foursome confront Umbridge. Although they are greeted by something completely unexpected. Thank you for taking the time to read and review! I appreciate you._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**Acid Pop Me**

_Hermione crossed the threshold and embraced Ginny next. "We saw Savage and Robards in the lobby. They told us to stay with you and protect you. Although I don't quite see the point in that. Not like you would listen to us anyway. You're probably going to burst in her room anyway. And by the looks of the bed, I bet you made poor Ginny stay up all night with you watching her room."_

_Harry's mouth gaped with Hermione's frankness. _

_Ron was the first to recover. "She finally understands us! All it took was six years in Hogwarts and one year running amuck all across the country in a bloody tent!"_

_Hermione flashed a brilliant smile. "All right then. How are we going to do this?"_

Ron's face lit up first. "I've got it! We nick one of the cleaning lady's carts and Hermione can disguise herself as a maid." Hermione's expression suggested that she did not think highly of Ron's plan. "And why do I have be the maid? Because I am a WOMAN?" Ron's ears immediately turned pink and looked around the room nervously, as if the right thing to say was written on the wall. "Well, no, of course not…um…that's not what I meant, Hermione. It's just that Harry's recognizable and all." Harry exchanged glances with Ginny, who was suppressing the urge to laugh. _Some things will never change_, Harry thought to himself.

Ginny took pity on her brother and came to his rescue. "Hermione, the plan is a little misogynistic, but it's not half bad. We should probably tell the aurors though. Otherwise we could muck up whatever they're planning on doing."

A loud knocking at the door caused Ron to leap off the ground a few feet. Hermione rolled her eyes and drew her wand as she opened the door. "We were just talking about you two! Come in, we are discussing plans. Ron wants me to dress up like a maid and take them by surprise."

Ginny and Harry burst out into fits of laughter at her last sentence while Ron turned a violent shade of red. The looks on the two auror's faces were priceless. Their expressions were stuck in between confusion and looking extremely uncomfortable. Hermione just looked a little confused. "Well he does! He wants me to dress like a maid and go into Umbridge's room!"

The taller one of the pair, Auror Savage, recovered first. "All right then. We were just going to burst in the room with our wands drawn but this would give us time to block any possible exits."

A few minutes later, Ginny and Hermione emerged from the restroom. Hermione was wearing a tea length grey dress that fell to mid-calf. A white apron was tied to her midsection, her wand poked out of the right pocket. Her hair was neatly tucked into a twist at the nape of her neck underneath a white hat. She wore a pair of white trainers on her feet. Most noticeable however, was her expression. Harry was a little concerned that she could be casting a nonverbal spell. _I wonder if she would really hex Ron's bits off. Or maybe she would want eww I can't think about that._

"Ronald, if you don't wipe that look off your face, I'll wipe it for you." Harry glanced over at Ron who was in the process of closing his mouth.

The shorter auror, Robards, cleared his throat awkwardly. "Right. Well Ron, you'll be in the cleaning cart's lower compartment. Ginny and Harry will be under the cloak and will block 'em from the window. Myself and Savage will be in the doorway. Just put the freezing charm on as many of 'em as you can and we'll take 'em back to London."

Ron folded up his legs and squished himself in the cleaning cart. He had insisted on doing this, in order to protect Hermione. This almost started another quarrel until Ginny had intervened and tugged Hermione in the restroom to change. Ginny tossed the cloak over her and Harry and drew her wand. Harry was once again overcome with her scent. Before he could stop himself, Harry leaned over and softly kissed her cheek. Ginny smiled and mumbled, "Later." A tingling sensation jolted through Harry's spine and he shook his head to maintain focus.

Watching Hermione push a heavy cart down the hotel corridor was a funny sight. Ron must have said something because Hermione abruptly stopped the cart, causing Ron to fly forward. Harry heard a muffled, "Umph! Oww." Hermione smiled to herself as she mumbled, "_Alohomora," _to the doorknob three doors away.

Hermione opened the door swiftly and called out in a loud voice, "Housekeeping!" Harry and Ginny hurried ahead of the cart and stood in front of the window. The room was very dark and it took a moment for everyone's eyes to adjust. Hermione drew her wand and yelled, "_Immobulus!"_ at a clump of figures on the bed.

Ron flew out of the cart and clicked his deluminator. Harry immediately wished that he hadn't. Frozen on top of the large bed was Dolores Umbridge in a low cut white slip. Her toad face was frozen tilted backward. Underneath her fat legs was none other than Cornelius Fudge. He was wearing nothing but his lime green bowler hat, looking more happy than Harry wanted to see.

Ron reacted first. "ACID POP MY EYES OUT! GROSS!"

Savage and Robards burst into the room and roared with laughter. Robards held his side and said, "Wait till Shacklebolt hears about this! Not the most dangerous death eaters, but they'll do. Well done, well done. You lot may have a future in the auror business."

Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny left the room, rolling the cleaning cart behind them. Ginny tugged on Harry's arm. "I have to put this back. We nicked it from the corridor over." Harry accompanied her. They used the invisibility cloak in case the real maid had gone looking for her cart.

As Harry and Ginny returned to the hotel room, they were met with their second unpleasant encounter of the day. Hermione's maid hat lay crumpled on the floor. Ron had Hermione pinned up against a wall and was wearing Hermione's apron over his clothes. The couple did not look up from their snogging session until Ginny cried out, "Acid pop MY eyes out! This isn't even your room!"

Ron jumped away from Hermione and studied his shoe laces. Hermione attempted to smooth her hair. Ginny's hand clenched in a fist and then turned on her heel, exiting the room.

"Umm right. See you two for dinner later I suppose." And Harry quickly hurried after his girlfriend. "Ginny, let's go see the Harpies. We should probably get out of this place before we see anything else disturbing."

Ginny's countenance seemed to lighten. "All right," she said as her lips moved into a brilliant smile.

It was a lovely day outside. There were green trees everywhere they turned. The sky was a light blue but you could hardly see it through the thick puffy clouds. A bell boy greeted them as they came down the path. "Good morning. Would you like me to lend you two brooms? Or perhaps a muggle car?"

Ginny answered quickly, "Brooms would be great, thanks."

The bellboy went into a plain small building and emerged with two Cleansweep 5s. "Have a lovely day." "Thanks, you too," they replied in unison.

"The pitch is northeast from here. We can fly in the clouds without being spotted easy enough."

Ginny nodded. "I'll follow you then." They kicked off from the ground and settled into the first layer of clouds. Harry kept on sneaking glances at Ginny. Riding a broom with her red hair flowing behind her in the middle of a cloud…sexy seemed to be an understatement. A large lopsided grin appeared on Harry's face.

They found the pitch quick enough. The scrimmage was about to begin, both teams were doing warm up drills. The invisibility cloak was not needed after all. Witches and wizards were settling into the stands toting a vast assortment of brooms and cloaks. Harry and Ginny settled down on a bench on the visitor's side of the stadium, close to the Harpies' rings. Ginny glued her eyes on the pitch and commented, "I think most of these people are in the business. See how most of these people aren't wearing jerseys? Fans would be decked out wearing their loyalty. Although no one knew about this really. At least not the fans."

Harry raised one eyebrow. "And how did you find out, Miss Weasley?"

Ginny blushed lightly, "They had asked me to come and try out after a scout saw me at one of the Gryffindor games last year."

Harry's jaw dropped open. "And why didn't you mention this before?"

"To be completely honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to do it. I mean I'm still not sure. Mum wouldn't like it. She would want me to finish school and get my N.E.W.T.s but I don't see the point. Plus I'm not sure if I could go back after…." Her eyes became misty. She tightened her jaw and fixed her eyes on the pitch once again.

Harry's hand found her hand. "Ginny. You shouldn't worry about what other people want you to do. I think that you should do it. If it's still your dream that is."

Ginny's brown eyes flicked to Harry's face. Her eyes met his green ones. She sighed deeply. "What if I'm afraid?"

Harry was confused. Ginny Weasley was one of the bravest people he knew. She could stand up to anyone or anything. "What exactly are you afraid of? Your mum not liking it?"

Ginny snorted. "No, not really. I mean it would be difficult to persuade her, but I could always get Dad's help with that. He takes my side on important stuff usually. Somehow he usually gets my mum to come around."

Harry smiled at the thought of Ginny having Arthur Weasley wrapped around her little finger. "Then what is it you're afraid of?"

Ginny cast her eyes downward. She inspected the pitch stands dark brown, weathered wood. "It's not very logical really…but it's this tiny voice nagging in the back of my head. I'll probably sound barking."

Harry squeezed her hand. "I won't think so."

Ginny took a deep breath and returned her gaze to the pitch. The teams were in a huddle, discussing plays most likely. "Sometimes I think that everything is too good to be true. Playing for the Harpies is my dream. And being with you was also my dream. It just seems like if I have both, something bad will happen."

"That makes perfect sense really. Especially considering this last year…" Harry trailed off. The quaffle, bludgers, and snitch were released.

Harry wrapped his arm around her waist. "But since you're too good to be true, I think it will cancel the bad luck out," he whispered into her ear. Ginny blushed at his sappy comment and lightly bumped his shoulder with her shoulder. "Well that's codswallop, Harry, but I appreciate it all the same. I think I will try out, they need a better chaser! Look at her!"

She raised her left hand and pointed to a delicate looking girl with a blonde ponytail getting walloped by a bludger. "Connolly is a wicked beater. She shouldn't have flown so close. At the very least she could have changed her flight path at the last moment. The other Irish beater, Quigley, is pretty good although he's a bit easier to out fly." Harry smiled. He loved it when she talked about quidditch. It definitely made him more enamored with her.

The scrimmage passed fairly quickly. The Harpies' chasers were being pummeled and only got one quaffle through the Irish goal posts. After the Irish were fifty points ahead of the Harpies, Lynch, the Irish seeker, spotted the snitch at the base of the Harpies goal post. Griffith was on the other side of the pitch at the time and had no chance of catching it first.

The Harpies disappeared into the visitor's locker rooms, dragging their brooms dejectedly behind them. Ginny stood up swiftly. "Harry, I want to do this. They need my help." Harry nodded and followed her to the locker rooms. A tall witch with a pointed face and short gray hair stood outside the locker room, talking to a reporter.

Ginny glanced around nervously, unsure of when to interrupt. "Excuse me, I think the Harpies are expecting me? They asked me to try out."

The witch peered down at Ginny, sizing her up. "The Harpies just lost a match. I don't think they're in the mood to entertain you, sweetie." Ginny flinched at the false term of endearment. Her eyebrows formed a determined expression on her face as she continued, "My name is Ginny Weasley. A scout found me at Hogwarts in October. She told me to come see the Harpies in early summer."

The tall witch looked a little annoyed at her persistence. "You can wait outside but I don't know if they'll be out for a while, dear." Harry was irritated at her flippant remark. He cleared his throat. "Excuse me, ma'am, my name is Harry Potter and I want to talk to the Harpies. May we go in?" Harry paused and flashed a smile that would have given Gilderoy Lockhart a run for his galleons. Ginny glanced at Harry in shock. She knew that Harry hated being recognized. She had jokingly called it, "playing the Potter card." Fred and George used to take the mickey out of Harry when he had to play the Potter card to get out of a sticky situation. It all started when Harry blew up his dreadful aunt. He hated playing the Potter card even then.

The witch stopped midsentence with the reporter. "Oh! You and the Harpies will make the front page! It may bump our loss back a few pages. All right then, this way." She grabbed the front of the reporter's robes and dragged them through the tunnel into the locker room. She casually yelled, "Press! Put your robes on!" Harry's ears turned a lovely shade of red that matched Ginny's hair.

The Harpies were just taking their arm guards off, to Harry's relief. Gwenog Jones, the captain, was first to look up. She had just kicked off her shoes into her bag when she extended a slightly dirty hand to Harry and Ginny. "Oi! You're the girl our scout told us about, aren't you? He said you had bright red hair and didn't look like a threat but that you were the best player on the pitch."

Ginny smiled brilliantly. "Thanks. That's me, I'm Ginny Weasley. I played seeker and chaser on Hogwart's Gryffindor team." "And she was captain for a year," Harry boastfully added.

Gwenog glanced at Harry. "Wotcher, Potter. I heard you're a good player too. You know we could just hex your bits off and then you could play with the Harpies." She waggled her eyebrow at Harry teasingly.

Harry scoffed, "As great as that sounds, I don't think I want to play quidditch professionally. Ginny would beat me anyway."

"Right well let's take this photo before my manager gets her wand in a knot." She shot a look over at the tall grey haired witch. "Harpies, let's line up over here!" After six flashes, Gwenog went over to Ginny.

"Let's see what you're made out of Weasley."

Ginny looked slightly startled. "I don't have any quidditch robes…and all I have is a broomstick the hotel lent me. But I can use anything really."

Gwenog smiled. "You can probably play in that, yeah? If we were at our home stadium, I'd have clothes to give you. And you can borrow one of our brooms. GALE!"

The delicate blonde chaser jumped at the sound of her name being bellowed in the locker room. She looked up cautiously.

"Lend Weasley your broom? She's going to try out right now."

Gale reluctantly handed over her Nimbus 2002 broom stick. "Harpies, let's go back to the pitch and show Weasley how we fly."

Ginny secured her hair in a low pony tail and wiped her sweaty palms on her blue jeans. She mounted Gale's broom and kicked off, flying adeptly between the Harpies. Harry thought she would crash into the other players a couple of times. It seemed like she was always just a few centimeters away from her opponents. It seemed to unnerve them, making them loose their focus. She gracefully steered clear of the bludgers, no matter how many Gwenog sent her way. The keeper managed to swat about a third of Ginny's quaffles away. Gwenog declared the try out was over after Ginny scored her ninth goal.

The Harpies descended to the pitch. "Well done, Weasley. We're going to talk to our manager. We'll come back for you in a bit." With that, they disappeared into the tunnel.

Harry rushed over to Ginny and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. He lifted her off the ground and spun her around a few times. "Ginny that was brilliant! They'd have to be daft to not offer you a contract today!"

Ginny laughed, "Imagine the look on Mum's face if that happened. 'Hello Mum. We found Umbridge shagging Fudge on our holiday. Oh and then I got signed on the Holyhead Harpies.' She'll be the only one not jealous. Do you really think I'll get signed?"

Harry grinned and placed a kiss on her wind-blown cheek. "Yes. I really do."

To pass the time, and to help Ginny keep her mind off waiting, Harry and Ginny plopped down on the pitch and stared at the clouds. "That one looks like a penguin." "Maybe a really fat penguin."

They had identified 18 animals, four wizards, and two castles when Gwenog and the manager appeared from the tunnel. Ginny jolted up quickly. Harry hurried to his feet and picked a piece of grass out of her hair.

Gwenog smiled. "Ginny, how would you like to play for the Harpies?"

Ginny's face froze. A second later, she grinned and replied, "I would love to." She shook Gwenog's hand.

The manager cleared her throat. "Sorry I was short with you earlier. My name is Glenys Lewis. I'll be your new manager. If you'll stop by our office next week, we can sign you. You can apparate to this address." Glenys handed Ginny a bit of parchment from her pocket. "It was lovely meeting both of you." Ginny shook her hand.

As Glenys and Gwenog disappeared once again into the locker room, Harry tugged on Ginny's hand. "Want to shove this in Ron's face?"

Ginny smirked. "Of course!"

When they arrived back at the hotel, Harry was sure to make a production of making a lot of noise in the hallway. He dropped the key a few times and bumped the door intentionally in hopes of breaking up whatever awkward things his best friends were doing. He cautiously opened the door to find them in their normal clothes perched on the green armchairs. Hermione was drinking a cup of tea while Ron devoured a biscuit.

Ron looked up at his best mate and his sister. "Where have you two been all day?"

Ginny smiled wistfully and draped herself across the bed. "Just fulfilling my dreams." Ron looked as if someone had set a confundus charm on him. He swallowed his biscuit and proceeded slowly, "And what exactly does that mean?" It was clear that he thought Ginny's dream involved something of an inappropriate nature with his best mate.

Ginny sat up. "Gwenog Jones just let me try out for the Holyhead Harpies. And I'm going to be signed next week!" Hermione set her teacup down swiftly and rushed over to congratulate Ginny. Ron again, looked like he had fallen victim to another confundus charm. Harry nudged Ron's foot and jerked his head toward Ginny. Ron shook his head and stood up to hug his little sister.

Harry pulled Hermione to the side. "Want to help me do something?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you ever ask for help?" Harry chuckled, "Since Ginny made the Holyhead Harpies and since I wanted to throw her a surprise party at number 12 Grimmwauld Place. Interested in helping?" Hermione grinned and nodded.

_Author's Note: Thanks again for reading. Please review, if you have a chance. Our next chapter will be the finale of this particular fic._


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**Grimmauld Place's House Elves and House Parties**

_Harry pulled Hermione to the side. "Want to help me do something?" Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Since when did you ever ask for help?" Harry chuckled, "Since Ginny made the Holyhead Harpies and since I wanted to throw her a surprise party at number 12 Grimmauld Place. Interested in helping?" Hermione grinned and nodded._

Harry breathed in a sigh of relief as he returned to number 12 Grimmauld Place. Kreacher had been cleaning as if he was the happiest house elf in the world. Harry had called on him a day before and told him to keep Mrs. Black's portrait. Kreacher almost drowned the room in tears of gratitude and joy. It seemed to Harry that scrubbing the entire house was his way of returning the gesture.

Kreacher had put some different security measures on the house. Mad Eye Moody's charms were no longer necessary. A new fidelius charm had been cast on the building in addition to a bedazzling hex which made the building invisible to witches and wizards as well as muggles. It remained unplottable to much the reporters' displeasure.

"Master! Kreacher is so glad you are finally home. I am preparing supper, sir. Will it be just for Master?"

Harry smiled down at Kreacher. "No, Hermione is joining me tonight."

Kreacher said nothing and bowed out of the room. "Well, he's getting better with muggle borns at least," Harry mumbled to himself.

Hermione and Harry were ushered into the unused dining room. Kreacher had certainly been busy. While a few years ago, it had been uninhabitable due to the spider colony taking up residence, it was now sparkling clean. A faded emerald green wall paper hung on the walls. The floorboards were a dark oak brown and had been swept immaculately clean. The large chandelier had all new candle sticks and cast light around the once dreary room. The richly carved dining table was recently polished, along with the eight matching chairs.

"Kreacher, this looks brilliant!" Hermione praised as she folded herself delicately into a chair in the middle of the table. Harry sank into the chair opposite of her. As they dug into their delicious meal, Hermione spoke first. "I doubt we have that much work to do really. Especially since Kreacher has gone above and beyond with this place."

Harry chewed thoughtfully for a moment before replying, "I agree but I would like to make this place a bit happier. We could colour charm the walls and vanish the peeling wallpaper. And I want to change the rooms a bit. Move furniture and such. Although I'm not sure I want to touch Sirius' room…"

Hermione picked up on his change of tone immediately, "Harry, are you sure you want to live here? I'm sure Mrs. Weasley would love to have you at the Burrow. Or you could get your own flat if this place is too painful for you."

Harry finished chewing a mouthful of potatoes before he responded. "No, it's not too painful really. Some of my happier days with Sirius were in this house. Plus he would want me to be happy here. He said so himself. Not to mention it's a six bedroom house! I'd have to be barmy to just not use it."

After complimenting Kreacher's dinner, Harry and Hermione began the charms around the house. They decided to leave the dining room and Sirius' room alone. They vanished the peeling wallpaper around the house at first. The entry way's once dark and dreary walls were changed to a light toffee brown. The cavernous kitchen was charmed to a powder light blue. Hermione enchanted more candles to float above the room, casting light in more places that Harry had known existed. "The room looks huge now!" Hermione beamed proudly at her work. The candles were charmed to light automatically when a person (or house elf) entered the room and to extinguish themselves when the room was vacant.

On the first landing was the drawing room, Hermione and Ginny's old room and a bathroom. The Black family tree in the drawing room was somewhat of a debacle. Harry knew how much Sirius hated his family tree but was unsure of how or if he should even remove it. They repaired the threadbare furniture, restoring it to its former plush state. Frustrated with the Black family staring at him, Harry conjured a thick royal blue curtain that drew itself around the walls of the room. Hermione smirked in amusement. "Well that's one way to take care of it."

They stopped in Hermione and Ginny's old room. "What colour would you and Ginny like this room to be?" Hermione tilted her head to the side for a moment before swishing her wand. The dark walls transformed into a peaceful lilac colour. She then directed her attention to the wardrobe in the far corner away from the door. As Hermione pointed her wand to the wardrobe, a loud sound of wood stretching filled the room. Harry walked over and stuck his head in the wardrobe. Hermione had cast an enlarging charm on the wardrobe, similar to Ginny's wardrobe at the Burrow. Hermione grinned, "Now we can fit all of our shoes in there!" Harry rolled his eyes dramatically and followed a gleeful Hermione to the second landing.

Hermione was already working on Ron and Harry's old room. "Do you even need my help?" Harry inquired. Hermione glanced at Harry leaning on the door frame before changing the drab olive green wall paper into a bright cerulean blue. "Not really, but you can tell me if you don't like something. Do you like these colours? I thought bright colours would cheer the place up a bit, yeah?" With this, she transfigured the two narrow beds into a large double bed. She tapped the tip of her wand to the musty quilt and changed its colour to a rich chocolate brown. "You're much better at this colour stuff than I am, Hermione. And I do like all of the crazy colours." Hermione hurried off to the next room saying, "I read a book on colour theory once."

Harry gave up trying to help Hermione. He began to unpack his meager belongings. He arranged his clothes in the wardrobe. He then unpacked his family photo album. He pressed his wand to each picture, making copies as he went along. After conjuring frames, he went about the house using a fixing charm to place his photos on the walls. He made a mental note to purchase some portraits to fill up the extra space. He then wondered where said portraits could be purchased. Hermione clamored down the stairs into Harry's room, interrupting his thoughts. "Right, all of the rooms on the third and fourth floor have been updated. That was rather fun! Now what is the plan for tomorrow?"

Harry sat on the foot of his large brown quilt as he answered, "I talked to Mrs. Weasley yesterday. She helped create a rouse to fool Ginny. She told her that they are going to eat dinner at Bill's tomorrow evening. Since Ginny doesn't have her apparition license yet, she'll side along apparate with her mum, who will bring her here. The other Weasleys will have arrived all ready. Oh and I invited Luna and Neville. We're going to hide in the kitchen. Then when they arrive, we'll burst out and yell, "Surprise." Or something like that. Am I forgetting anything?"

Hermione chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I suppose Kreacher is making all of the food?"

"Oh right. Mrs. Weasley insisted on coming tomorrow afternoon to help. I hope they get along better than last time."

Hermione sighed. "Poor Kreacher. You really should set him free, you know."

"I asked Kreacher what he wanted to do after the battle. He told me that he missed being here, serving me. Who am I to take that away from him? Especially after the miserable life he's led? I see your perspective, but Kreacher loves to serve. If I set him free, he would be humiliated."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I don't understand elves! Dobby was the only one that made any sense."

Harry's eyes bulged beneath his wire frames. "I don't know where you've been but perhaps you've forgotten of when he didn't let Ron and I onto the platform or when he tried to kill me with a rogue bludger?"

"I suppose that didn't make much sense either. Still. I understood him better than the rest of his lot." She smiled and crossed the room to hug Harry's shoulders. "I'll be off. I'm staying at the Burrow tonight, so floo of you need anything."

"Thank you for everything Hermione, I really appreciate it."

Harry fell asleep easily in his new large bed. He awoke a few times to nightmares of Remus and Tonks dying. Fortunately, morning came quickly. After Harry had breakfasted and showered, he dressed in a pair of dark jeans and an oxford shirt. He slipped on his trainers and donned his cloak, even though it was entirely too hot. Harry sighed and wondered to himself when wizards were going to finally adjust to the muggle fashions completely. It seemed that his generation of witches and wizards preferred muggle clothing to the antiquated wizard robes. As he fastened his cloak around him and pocketed his wand he thought_ Best wear it anyway. I bet I stand out enough in Diagon Alley as it is._

When Harry returned from his quick shopping trip, he stowed his parcel in his wardrobe. As he hung up his cloak, he heard someone apparate downstairs. Thinking it was Mrs. Weasley, Harry went downstairs calling out, "Just got back from Diagon Alley!" He stopped dead in his tracks to see Ginny standing in the front hall.

Ginny smiled, "Why did you go there? You couldn't have asked me if I wanted to go with you?"

Harry closed his mouth and began to walk slowly down the stairs, racking his brain for a suitable lie. "Didn't think you would want to watch me go to the bank. It wasn't too horribly fascinating."

Ginny toyed with the end of her hair. "I wouldn't have minded."

Harry pulled her small frame into an embrace and placed a kiss on her nose. "I'll ask you next time, yeah?"

Ginny smiled. "When did you redecorate the place?"

Harry shifted his weight uncomfortably and loosened his grip on her waist. "Yesterday actually. Hermione did it all really."

"Oh." Ginny replied. She looked away, with a slight hurt look on her face.

A huge wave of guilt washed over Harry. He hated lying! Especially to Ginny. He wished he could tell her why they redecorated without ruining her surprise. Speaking of surprise, her mum was due here any minute! Harry looked around wildly, as if the perfect ploy to lure Ginny out of the house was hiding in the old troll leg.

"All right, Harry? You're acting a little odd."

Harry avoided her beautiful brown eyes and mumbled. "Yeah, fine. Listen, do you want to do something? Maybe go watch a film? Or we could go flying…oh never mind, I haven't a broom. We could go to Diagon Alley. I can watch you run errands."

Ginny eyed him quizzically. "I do need to stop by the bank actually. Then I need to buy some quidditch practice stuff. You sure you don't mind going twice in one day?"

"Course not."

Ginny studied his face for a moment. "All right, shall we use the floo?"

"Sure, let me ask Kreacher something. I'll join you in a moment."

Ginny shrugged and walked into the kitchen to the fireplace to find that it, too, had been repainted. _Why is he being so secretive? He can't be…_she shoved the nasty thought to the back of her mind and waited for Harry to join her.

Harry found Kreacher in the dining room, polishing the silver that Kreacher hid from Fletcher. "Kreacher, Mrs. Weasley is coming here to help you with the party. I know you two don't always get a long, but please try. I know she's bossy and it's your kitchen, but it would make me very happy if you two could make the dinner together."

Kreacher looked up from polishing a spoon and gave a low bow in acknowledgement. "Right, thanks. And tell her please that I had to distract Ginny and take her to Diagon Alley." With that he sped across the hall and into the kitchen. Ginny handed him floo powder wordlessly and stepped into the fireplace.

After making an awkward trip to Gringotts, Harry and Ginny ducked into Quality Quidditch Supplies. The tension between Ginny and Harry was becoming palpable. As Ginny looked at arm guards, Luna Lovegood of all people wandered into the shop. Harry sighed. _Luna will blow the whole surprise. Brilliant, she's headed this way._ He plastered a fake smile on his face and waved to Luna as she hugged Ginny.

Ginny was smiling with a bit of surprise. "What are you doing here, Luna?"

Harry shook his head violently behind Ginny, trying to get Luna to say something, anything else than the truth. When Luna just stared at him with a vacant expression, he moved to gesticulating wildly. He was mouthing the words, "Don't tell her!" when Luna turned her attention back to Ginny.

"Shopping for you of course. I heard you made the Harpies! Dad says that you're the youngest signed in a very long time."

Harry cut her off. "Yeah the youngest chaser signed in fifty years!"

Ginny looked irritated at Harry's rude interruption. "Harry, I think I'll catch up with Luna for a bit. Are you coming to Bill's cottage tonight?"

Harry stared into space for a moment before remembering Mrs. Weasley's cover story. "Right. Shell Cottage." He focused his green eyes intently on Luna's. "Luna, are you coming to _Bill's_?" He raised an eye brow and hoped against all hope that she would catch on.

The shop door opened once again and Hermione swept into the shop before Luna could answer. Harry let go of his breath that he had been holding since Luna approached them. A look of surprise passed briefly across her face before she read Harry's panicked expression and swiftly joined them by the arm guards.

"Hello!"

"Hey Hermione! I was just telling Luna that we were all going to **Bill's** house tonight."

Hermione caught on immediately. Harry silently thanked Merlin for such a bright friend. "Yes, I invited Luna yesterday." Harry saw Hermione squeeze Luna's hand out of the corner of his eye.

Ginny smiled at Hermione. "Harry was going to go and leave us to shop. Care to join us?"

Hermione exchanged glances with Harry and quickly replied, "Sure."

Harry arrived back home at ease. If anyone could keep this party a surprise, it would be Hermione. He quickly bent over the floo and began to message his fellow Gryffindors. He may as well fill up the house if he was going to all of this trouble to surprise Ginny. He called on Katie Bell, Angelina, Alicia Spinnet, Lee Jordan, Seamus, Dean, Michael Corner, and Terry Boot. Most of them said they could attend. Harry gave them instructions to travel through the floo network. He would lift the security charms on it temporarily.

He rose from his knees and brushed the dirt off of his clothes. He smiled at the scene before him. Mrs. Weasley and Kreacher were cooking together, both trying to be on their best behavior. Kreacher was holding the oven door open while Mrs. Weasley pulled out a large cake. "That looks great!" Harry complimented.

"Thank you," Mrs. Weasley and Kreacher replied in stereo.

Mrs. Weasley wiped her hands on her apron. "Harry, dear, you best wash up. The guests should start arriving in a few hours and you have soot all over your face."

Harry nodded and hurried out of the kitchen. He could take a hint.

Harry emerged from a nice shower and pulled on a nice pair of trousers. He stood before his mirror, toweling his hair dry when a breathless Hermione appeared in his room. Harry started and hurriedly pulled a shirt over his bare chest. He slipped his glasses on to find a very put out Hermione.

"Harry, we've really mucked things up."

Harry's heart sank to the pit of his stomach. "She found out about the party then?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, nothing that trivial. I was so stupid to not think of this before!" She began to pace the floor, spinning her wand in her hand as she walked.

Harry's eyebrows knotted together in a perplexed manner. "What's worse than Ginny knowing about her party?"

Hermione stopped and stared incredulously at Harry. "Loads of things Harry! How about Ginny thinking that you are about to break things off with her? Or worse, us having an affair!"

Harry's mouth fell agape. "She….said that?"

Hermione sighed heavily. "Not exactly. Let me start over. Ginny is worried that you may break it off with her because I went and redecorated the whole house. I can't believe I was so daft!"

Harry scowled. "What's wrong with that?"

"It clearly says that you don't value her opinion!"

"Well of course I do! I was only doing it so my house wouldn't look horrid for her surprise party!"

"_I_ know that Harry, but_ Ginny_ does not! Imagine what she thought when she found that I redecorated your entire house!"

Harry roughly scrubbed his face with his hand. "Bloody hell. No wonder she was distant today. Poor Ginny. What did she say?"

Hermione sat on Harry's school trunk that Kreacher had placed in the corner of his room. "First she complimented the colours…then she asked me if I had talked to you lately. Which I admitted that we had dinner last night…which definitely sounded terrible. Then she asked how things were with Ron."

Harry interrupted her. "Wait, what has Ron got to do with this?"

Hermione sighed in exasperation. "She asked that to see if we were happy. People don't go having affairs if they are happy in their relationships."

Harry felt slightly stupid. In attempt to distract from the blush slowly claiming his ears he blurted, "How are things…with Ron?"

"Brilliant. Fantastic. Want me to finish?" Harry nodded, feeling more stupid. "I assured her that things between us are going quite well. I tried to reassure her that you're arse over elbow in love with her…you are, aren't you?"

Harry's blush spread to his face. "Well…yes. I haven't gotten to telling her that yet."

Hermione threw her head back in frustration. It thumped against the wall loudly. "Oh Harry."

"Guess I should have told her then? I'm rubbish at this stuff, Hermione."

Hermione rubbed her eyes. "No one is perfect, Harry. But you should probably tell her how you feel. I know you two haven't been dating that long, but as today has proved, nothing good can come from lying to people."

Harry nodded in agreement. "I think this will be the last time I throw a surprise party."

Hermione rose from her perch on the trunk. "Same here. Let's go decorate the drawing and dining room. We can cover it in green and gold streamers, Holyhead colours."

Harry nodded, eager for a distraction.

A few hours later, the house was decked out in green and gold streamers. Hermione had conjured herds of miniature horses in honor of Ginny's patronus. They galloped about above people's heads. The house was gradually becoming more and more crowded. Hermione was dispensing mead while Neville passed out butter beers. Harry was putting some last minute touches to the decorations. Mrs. Weasley had brought over a picture of Ginny in her Gryffindor quidditch robes. The picture was of her landing, dismounting her broom and stalking toward the camera with a triumphant look on her face. She smirks in front of the camera and proudly holds up a quaffle. Harry had spent the last few minutes enlarging and duplicating this photo. He murmured, "Engorgio. Geminio." He placed the last poster sized photo on a stack and began to stick them to walls throughout the first two levels of the house. He greeted many of his guests in the process. As he applied a sticking charm to a few posters in the kitchen, a red head burst out of the fireplace.

"Ginny's coming in a bit! Everyone hide!"

Everyone scurried about, ducking under tables, pressing themselves against walls, and hiding behind chairs. Luna folded herself into a small cabinet in the kitchen. Various other Weasleys quickly joined the now crowded and dark kitchen. Ron had seen to the lights with his deluminator.

After a few awkward silent minutes in the dark, a sound of apparition filled their ears. Ron clicked his deluminator again. The candles lit up the entire room as a chorus of people threw themselves out of their various hiding places and yelled, "Surprise!"

Ginny jumped about a foot off the ground in shock. Harry saw her hand tighten around her wand for a moment before it relaxed. Her face then lit up with a lovely smile. She turned to her mum, "All of this is for me?"

"Of course, Ginny! It's not every day a sixteen year old witch makes the Harpies! Harry did all of the work though."

Harry blushed profusely and quickly crossed the room to embrace Ginny. "I'm sorry I was so secretive but I wanted this to be perfect. I can explain more later."

Ginny's only response was to kiss him quickly on the cheek before being assaulted by her guests with congratulatory wishes.

The party carried on very smoothly. People drank and socialized for about half an hour before Molly ushered everyone into either the dining room or the kitchen for supper. Molly and Kreacher had finally had a challenge in feeding enough people. Everyone ate more than they should, but to Harry's slight disappointment, there were not as many left-overs as he had hoped. He had planned to snack on them throughout the week.

Ginny's cake was a masterpiece. It had three tiers of varying sizes. Intricate icing designs of brooms and snitches flew about each separate tier. As a finishing touch, one of the mares from Herimone's conjured horses stood atop the cake, occasionally tossing its mane and tail in different directions.

Ginny's eyes misted up for a moment. She locked eyes with her mum and thanked her.

Harry was seated in between Ginny and Katie Bell. Harry turned his attention to Katie while Ginny was having a separate conversation with Neville, three seats over. "So what have you been up to?"

Katie smiled. "Nothing as exciting as playing professional quidditch."

"Do you think you want to do that?"

Katie shrugged. "I may. I am not really sure yet. I'm not nearly as good as Ginny."

Harry grinned proudly. "Neither am I."

Katie scoffed. "First of all, that's a terrible comparison since you two don't even play the same position."

Harry raised an eyebrow when she stopped abruptly. "And second of all?"

Katie swallowed another bite of cake. "Oh I didn't really have a second of all. Sorry that wasn't too exciting." Her face suddenly lit up like Harry had just caught a snitch. "Although I do have one exciting story. But you can't spread it around too fast, like I'm doing right now."

Harry chuckled. "All right, let's hear it then."

Katie half turned in her seat and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial murmur. "I think George and Angelina might be fooling around. At Fred's wake, we were all pretty pissed, and they snogged a good deal. I thought it was due to the fire whiskey an all. But every time I bring it up to Angelina, she clams up! She never clams up! Especially not to me. Which leads me to believe that they're having a little tete-a-tete. Just watch the way the act around each other."

Harry and Katie both turned to stare at Angelina and George at the other end of the table. George's elbow bumped Angelina's arm. George averted his eyes to his plate as his ear slowly turned pink. Angelina suddenly struck up a conversation with Michael Corner across the table.

Harry exchanged glances with Katie. "George never blushes!" he said in an incredulous whisper.

Katie smugly nodded and finished her cake.

A handful of guests left after dinner while the rest went upstairs to the drawing room. Mrs. Weasley suggested an old game that no one had heard of. "Honestly, Arthur and I used to play it at parties all the time! You blindfold a person. That person has to walk about the room and find someone else. When they touch that person, they have to guess who it is, without using magic."

Lee Jordan piped up from a sofa. "And if you guess wrong you take a shot of fire whiskey!" He looked to George for support. George quickly looked away and studied the thick blue curtains.

Ginny smiled. "That sounds like fun. Ron you go first!"

Ron looked shocked. "Why me?"

"Because it's my party, silly." She pointed her wand at Ron's face. "Obscuro." A blindfold wrapped itself neatly around Ron's head.

People everywhere scattered, giggling and knocking into one another. Ron wondered about the room blindly groping the curtains and pieces of furniture before he caught the sleeve of Neville. Neville froze, clearly hoping that Ron would guess incorrectly.

Ron felt Neville's arm for a few minutes. "I feel like a git. I don't know who it is but I guess it's a bloke." His hands traveled up to Neville's face. "Geroff!" Neville said, smacking his hands away. "Oi! It's you, Neville!"

The blindfold untied itself and settled itself snugly on Neville's face. Ron triumphantly crossed the room to get as far away as he possibly could. The game went on for some time. To Lee's disappointment, he was the only person who guessed incorrectly. He guessed that Luna was Ginny. The game wound down when Harry blindly found his way over to Ginny. As the blindfold transferred itself to Ginny, Harry bent his head down and kissed her.

The Weasley boys broke into a chorus of retching noises, which earned a loud scolding from Mrs. Weasley. Most of the guests either left for the evening, or went downstairs to help Kreacher and Molly clean up the mess.

Harry and Ginny slipped away easily enough. Harry pulled her into his redone room. "Look Ginny, about earlier. I am so sorry, I was trying to surprise you but I'm afraid I mucked everything up. I only asked Hermione to help me with the place…"

"To look nice for my party, yes I see that now." She interrupted. "It was very sweet of you. I'm sorry I was so suspicious."

Harry stroked her cheek with his free hand. "I'm sorry I kept that stuff from you. And you can redecorate anything you want here, Gin. I want to make you happy."

Ginny smiled. "I can tell." She stood on her tip toes and kissed Harry deeply.

As she broke away she studied his green eyes. "Is there something else you wanted to tell me?"

Harry blushed a lovely shade of red. It almost matched Ginny's hair. "I suppose. Here, sit down." He lead her over to the large bed and perched on the foot of it. She sank down and turned to lock her eyes on his.

"Well there's two things really. The first is hiding in my wardrobe." Harry crossed the room and pulled a long parcel out of his wardrobe. He crossed the room and placed the parcel on Ginny's lap. "Go on, open it."

Ginny's fingers trembled as she slowly tore the paper to reveal four feet of ash wood and birch twigs. A small gasp escaped from her lips. "A firebolt! Oh Harry, you shouldn't have done this."

Harry tilted her chin up to meet his eyes. "Of course I should have. You deserve it."

Ginny ran her hand across the broom. "It's so beautiful. Thank you, Harry." She tenderly placed the broom against the wall and placed herself in Harry's lap. "What's my second surprise? I hope this one didn't cost so much!"

"No, this one is free. Right, so I'm rubbish at a lot of this boy friend stuff. I'm going to tell you something but I don't want you to feel pressured to say anything back at all. I know we haven't been dating for a long time, but I've known you for most of my life so I think I have merit." Harry's ears turned a brighter shade of red as he became self conscious of his rambling. He took a deep breath and met her gaze once again. "I'm in love with you."

For a moment, Harry was scared that she would and would not say it back. He was scared she would run away screaming. He was scared that she would start naming their future children. But the most overwhelming fear was the fear that she did not feel the same. _That would be the worst, to live without her love…_

His negative thoughts were interrupted as Ginny flung her arms around Harry's neck. He folded his arms around her. She spoke into his ear, "I'm in love with you." She pulled away softly pressed her lips to Harry's.

_The End_


End file.
